Get Your Holy Hops While the Gettin's Good

Source: Holy Hops

This is the best story in homebrewing since October 14, 1978: native, American neomexicanus hops grown at the the Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu, New Mexico went on sale today to homebrewers.  They have precious little stocks, and therefore the hops are mighty expensive.  Nevertheless, this is an extremely cool prospect for nerds like me (I wisely ordered my 3.5 ounces of Latir before writing this post) for whom the idea of indigenous hops--even ones grown thousands of miles away--are irresistible.  It's a bit of a pig in a poke, flavor-wise, but here's what's on offer:

• Amalia (4.5% alpha acids).  "Citrusy, tangerine, slightly minty"
• Latir (7.2% aa).  "Spicy, herbal, flowery"
• Tierra (5.7% aa). "Minty, citrusy, very slightly grassy"
• Chama (7.3% aa). "Citrusy, herbal, fruity"
• Mintras (4.1% aa). "Herbal, minty"

If anyone does pick up some of these hops and wishes to do some bottle-trading down the line, I'd be happy to participate.  I'll be doing a relatively low-alcohol (~5%) neutral pale ale or lager with my Latir, hoping that the hops have a chance to express themselves in that format.