Amarillo Gold?

[danmdevries]

I got an email from a friend with a link to an Ebay auction selling "amarillo gold" hops seeds.

Now the uncertainties of m/f growing from seed aside, what is amarillo gold? Is it similar in flavor/aroma to Amarillo? Worth a shot?

Here's the link. Not mine, no association, just shopping.

I use a lot of Amarillo in my beers. 3F is our local "micro" brewery, so a lot of friends/family ask for stuff brewed to their style and I tend to burn through a lot of Amarillo. Was thinking if these are close enough, it would be worth a shot. Or is it a scammy renaming of some varitey/mutant with no relation to real Amarillo?

 

[AT-JeffT]

A search revealed that Amarillo and Amarillo Gold are the same.

Growing hops from seeds is does not guarantee that you will get a plant with the same (brewing) properties as store bought Amarillo.

Also Amarillo is a trademarked hop. So all in all, you could end up with a nice crop of Amarillo hops (no so legally/ethically) or you could end up with some genetic variation of Amarillo not so suitable for brewing.

 

[bellmtbbq]

No, it's for sure a scam. In effect, there isn't a single Amarillo seed out there in the world- every Amarillo plant is a female (cone producing)! Even if an Amarillo female was pollinated by a wild male, the seeds would be wildly genetically, and you'd have to plant hundreds of seeds to find one that emulates Amarillo's characteristics.

Finally, Amarillo plants are grown with apparently a very tall fence around the plants. The Amarillo are also not designated by variety on the field, so there's no way to know which variety is which if you broke in to steal any hypothetical seeds.

Your best chance for Amarillo would be to break into the fields.

There's no use of hop seeds for the average homebrewer or hop grower, unless you are doing genetic or breeding work with them (my case). It's a lot of hours and work but I enjoy it.
In other words, NO.

 

[danmdevries]

No, it's for sure a scam. In effect, there isn't a single Amarillo seed out there in the world- every Amarillo plant is a female (cone producing)! Even if an Amarillo female was pollinated by a wild male, the seeds would be wildly genetically, and you'd have to plant hundreds of seeds to find one that emulates Amarillo's characteristics.

Finally, Amarillo plants are grown with apparently a very tall fence around the plants. The Amarillo are also not designated by variety on the field, so there's no way to know which variety is which if you broke in to steal any hypothetical seeds.

Your best chance for Amarillo would be to break into the fields.

There's no use of hop seeds for the average homebrewer or hop grower, unless you are doing genetic or breeding work with them (my case). It's a lot of hours and work but I enjoy it.
In other words, NO.

Thank you for confirming my suspicions.

I had high doubts when I saw it considering the patent on Amarillo hops and like you said, what we use are all female only and seeds would only be from contaminated specimens.

I did have a little hope that Amarillo gold was a separate, non patented variety with similar characteristics that would be a suitable substitute. Which is why I asked here.

Ordered 10lbs of Amarillo pellets instead. Thanks!