Amarillo: Show me the way

What I know about Amarillo; 14th largest city in Texas and one-time helium capital of the world, Neil Sedaka wrote about the way to it and Virgil Gamache Farms have the registered trademark for the hop variety.

So let's concentrate on the latter. Described as 'super Cascade', the hop has a high oil content and lends citric notes tending towards grapefruit / orange whilst having a high enough alpha acid content to allow a clean bittering touch. I've collected a few Amarillo-based beers from three different countries in the last few months, so a lazy Sunday seemed an ideal time for a side-by-side tasting.

Stone Levitation is a US amber ale dry-hopped with Amarillo. Most of the Stone brews I've sampled so far have had heavyweight ABVs; Levitation lands almost featherlight at 4.4%. The aroma's hard hitting, though, breakfast juice citrics riven with hop oil. Just a waft of spicy biscuits in there too. Steady carbonation leads to a soft mouthfeel and thick lacing. As the light chestnut body warms, those hops start to feel sticky in the mouth. I'd like to try a pint of it, just to see if I become inured to the hoppiness. And then try another pint. And then another....

Back over to Blighty for a CAMRA award-winner. Crouch Vale Amarillo is cold filtered in bottles to try and capture the fresh hop feel of the cask version. It certainly has a cleaner flavour than Levitation, almost perfumed in its complexity. There's subtle honey on a sweet edge frayed by fruit, some drying orange, preserved peach, perhaps even lychee? A thinner body with little carbonation, this still carries a reasonable biscuityness that segues into slight sweetness.

Ten days ago, I'd never tried a beer by Dutch brewers De Molen. Thanks to the RateBeer European Summer Gathering I've now tried several from the bottle and even one on cask (in Huddersfield. Yes, really). Their Amarillo is another one that's been dry-hopped but has none of the Levitation's harsh edges. Instead there was a pervading sweetness; beneath lay yeasty peaches with pine and grapefruits holding back a soft caramel maltwash. At 9.2% it was remarkable for the sheer pleasure with which it hid its ABV and concentrated on delivering solid flavours. I rarely come across a bottle of this weight that offers such easy drinking - I'm glad that such accessibility and sustained flavour has been a hallmark of all the De Molen beers that I've tried.

Three beers, one hop, no cheesy puns about the song lyrics. Amarillo is a great hop variety that allows brewers plenty of space for experimentation; I'll be looking out for more examples on my travels.

I bought all three bottles from Beers Of Europe; the Stone and De Molen are stocked in limited quantity, so I'd order quickly if you fancy trying them.