Hop Reference Chart By: Ben Bakelaar
I didn’t have anything in particular to write about this week, but keep your eyes peeled for monthly interviews in the very near future. I have lined up Bob Olson of Bolero Snort Brewery and Michael Kane of Kane Brewing Company, both of whom started out as homebrewers. In addition, I will be interviewing head brewmaster Kyle McDonald of Harvest Moon. Kyle is a unique case; he started out working in the cellar of a brewpub, and slowly gained more brewing responsibilities without ever having homebrewed!
Meanwhile, I thought that I would do a little exercise related to hops. With Ferment the World’s single hop project fresh on my mind, I poked around the Love2Brew site looking for some sort of hop chart which compared all of the available hop varieties and various factors such as their alpha acid, usage, flavor/aroma, and history. Not finding anything, I decided what better time than now to compile this chart! I hope you find it useful. It was a great learning experience for me just in compiling the data - hops are something I’ve ignored over the years since I am a “Belgian/malt” guy. But my interest is piquing - not in super hoppy, high alpha acid, high IBU beers, but in using hops to achieve various aromas and flavors! Some of the key words used to describe the hops below: citrus, tropical, fruity, floral, flowery, woody, earthy, pine-like, spicy, and herbal. A very few even have some pretty out there descriptions: from grapefruit, melon, lemon, lime, gooseberry, passionfruit, lychee to onion, garlic, licorice, dill, blackcurrant, and pungent.
All of the information below was obtained from the Hopunion LLC Hop Variety Handbook. It’s not necessarily easy reading, but if you want more details I highly recommend browsing it! The table may appear squished inside the blog, but I wanted to take this opportunity to educate you about the pedigree and history of hops, which is a source of much confusion for homebrewers. It’s something I was guilty of early on too - I wanted the exact hop listed in the recipe, and nothing else. But if you read through this chart, and consider that hops are an agricultural product that varies in consistency, I think what you’ll find is that while there are certainly some unique irreplaceable hops, the majority of them have valid substitutes that are perhaps even more similar than you would have expected.
Please also feel free to download this PDF which contains the same information. You can use it to add your own notes and additional columns as well as sort and search. You can also print it out as a reference sheet.
| Hop | Recommended Use | Alpha Acid Range | Aroma | Pedigree | Date | Possible Substitutions | | Ahtanum | Aroma | 5.7% to 6.3% | Floral, citrus | Developed by a company | Not specified | Amarillo, Cascade | | Amarillo | Aroma | 8.0% to 11.0% | Floral, tropical and citrus tones | Developed by a company | Not specified | Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe | | Brewer's Gold | Bittering | 8.0% to 10.0% | Blackcurrant, fruity, spicy | Bullion | Bred 1934 | Chinook, Galena, Nugget | | Cascade | Aroma | 4.5% to 7.0% | Medium intensity, floral, citrus and grapefruit | Fuggle and Serebrianka | Bred 1956 | Ahtanum, Amarillo, Centennial | | Centennial | Both | 9.5% to 11.5% | Medium intensity, floral and citrus tones | Brewer's Gold | Bred 1974 | Cascade, Chinook, Columbus | | Chinook | Both | 12.0% to 14.0% | Medium intensity, spicy, piney and distinct with subtle tones of grapefruit | Petham Golding | Released 1985 | Nugget, Columbus, Northern Brewer | | Citra | Aroma | 11.0% to 13.0% | Strong citrus and tropical tones - grapefruit, melon, lime, gooseberry, passionfruit and lychee | Hallertauer Milltelfruh, US Tettnang, Brewer's Gold and East Kent Golding | Released 2007 | n/a | | Cluster | Both | 5.5% to 8.5% | Strong, floral and spicy | Not specified | Oldest hop variety in US | Galena | | Columbus | Both | 14.0% to 16.0% | Pungent | Developed by Hopunion | Not specified | Chinook, Galena, Millennium and Nugget | | Crystal | Aroma | 3.5% to 5.5% | Mild, floral and spicy | German Hallertau, Cascade, Brewer's Gold, Early Green, Mt. Hood and Liberty | Released 1993 | Mt. Hood, Hersbrucker, Strisselspalt, Liberty, Hallertau | | Czech Saaz | Aroma | 2.0% to 5.0% | Very mild with pleasant hoppy notes | Czech | Not specified | Polish Lublin, US Saaz, US Sterling | | Fuggle | Aroma | 4.0% to 5.5% | Mild, woody and fruity | Not specified | Selected in 1861 | UK Fuggle, Willamette, Styrian Golding | | Galena | Both | 12.0% to 14.0% | Citrus | Brewer's Gold | Bred in 1968 | Brewer's Gold, Columbus, Nugget | | German Hallertau | Aroma | 3.0% to 5.5% | Mild with distinct floral, hop and citrus tones | Hallertau region, Germany | Not specified | German Tradition, Liberty, Vanguard | | German Hersbrucker | Aroma | 2.0% to 5.0% | Mild to medium, pleasant, floral and slightly fruity | Hersbruck area, Germany | Not specified | French Strisselspalt, Mt. Hood | | German Northern Brewer | Both | 7.0% to 10.0% | Medium intensity, hoppy tang | High alpha English hop, American wild hop | Not specified | Columbus, Chinook, Galena, Magnum, US Northern Brewer, German Brewer's Gold | | German Spalt | Aroma | 2.5% to 5.5% | Mild and pleasant with flowery, fruity and spicy tones | Spalt area, Germany | Not specified | US Saaz, US Tettnang, German Spalter Select | | German Tettnang | Aroma | 3.0% to 6.0% | Mild and pleasant with balanced aroma impressions | German | Not specified | German Spalt, German Select, US Saaz, German Hersbrucker | | German Tradition | Aroma | 5.0% to 7.0% | Medium intensity, floral and herbal tones | Hallertauer Gold | Registered in 1993 | Liberty, German Hallertau | | Glacier | Both | 5.60% | Pleasant hop | Elsasser | Released in 2000 | Fuggle, Styrian Golding, Willamette | | Liberty | Aroma | 3.0% to 5.0% | Mild, slightly spicy | Hallertau Mittlefruh, Ultra, Mt. Hood, Crystal | Not specified | US or German Hallertau, German Tradition, Mt. Hood | | Mt. Hood | Aroma | 4.0% to 8.0% | Mild, somewhat pungent | German Hallertauer Mittlefruh, Ultra, Liberty, Crystal | Released in 1989 | German Hallertau, German Hersbrucker | | Mt. Rainier | Both | 5.0% to 8.1% | Excellent floral/noble aromas, with citrus and licorice tones | Hallertau, Galena, Fuggle | Not specified | Hallertauer, Fuggle | | Newport | Bittering | 13.5% to 17.0% | Mild | Not specified | Released in 2002 | Galena, Nugget, Fuggle, Magnum, Brewer's Gold | | Nugget | Bittering | 12.0% to 14.5% | Mild, herbal and pleasant | Brewer's Gold, Early Green and Canterbury Golding | Not specified | Galena, Magnum, Columbus | | Palisade | Aroma | 5.5% to 9.5% | Floral, fruity and earthy overtones | Tettnang | Not specified | Willamette | | Santiam | Aroma | 5.0% to 7.0% | Slightly spicy with herbal and floral tones | Tettnang, Hallertauer | Released in 1997 | German Spalt, German Spalter Select, German Tettnang | | Simcoe | Both | 12.0% to 14.0% | Very unique, pine-like aroma | Not specified | Not specified | Summit, Magnum | | Sorachi Ace | Aroma | 10.0% to 16.0% | Unique, lemon and slight dill | Brewer's Gold, Saazer | Not specified | n/a | | Sterling | Aroma | 6.0% to 9.0% | Herbal and spicy with a hint of floral and citrus | Saaz, Cascade, Brewer's Gold, Early Green | Released in 1998 | Czech Saaz | | Styrian Goldings | Aroma | 3.0% to 6.0% | Delicate, slightly spicy | Fuggle, from Slovenia | Not specified | US Fuggle, UK Fuggle, Willamette, Styrian Bobek | | Summit | Aroma | 16.0% to 19.0% | Distinct spiciness with earthy, onion, garlic and citrus characteristics | Lexus, Zeus, Nugget | Released in 2003 | Columbus, Warrior, Millennium | | U.S. Magnum | Bittering | 10.0% to 14.0% | No distinct aroma characteristics | Galena, German hop | Not specified | German Magnum, Horizon | | U.S. Northern Brewer | Both | 8.0% to 10.0% | Medium intensity with evergreen, wood and mint overtones | Canterbury Golding | Bred in 1934 | German Northern Brewer, Chinook | | U.S. Perle | Aroma | 7.0% to 9.5% | Slightly spicy with floral tones | English Northern Brewer | Not specified | German Perle, German and US Northern Brewer | | U.S. Tettnang | Aroma | 4.0% to 5.0% | Slightly spicy | German | Not specified | Fuggle, German Spalt, German Spalt Select, Santiam | | UK Challenger | Both | 5.0% to 9.0% | Mild to moderate, spicy | Northern Brewer, Northdown | Not specified | US or German Perle, Northern Brewer | | UK Kent Goldings | Aroma | 4.0% to 7.0% | Smooth, delicate, slightly spicy | Canterbury Whitebine | Developed in 1790 | | | US Golding | Aroma | 4.0% to 6.0% | Mild, delicate classic English-type | East Kent Golding | Not specified | Fuggle, UK East Kent Golding, Styrian Golding | | US Hallertau | Aroma | 3.5% to 5.5% | Very mild, slightly flowery and spicy | German Hallertau | Not specified | Liberty, German Hallertau, German Tradition | | Vanguard | Aroma | 5.0% to 6.0% | Similar to Hallertau Mittelfruh | Hallertau Mittelfruh | Released in 1997 | Hallertau, German Hersbrucker, Mt. Hood, Liberty | | Warrior | Bittering | 15.0% to 17.0% | Very mild | Bred by Yakima Chief Ranches | Not specified | Columbus, Nugget, Magnum, Summit | | Willamette | Aroma | 4.0% to 6.0% | Mild and pleasant, slightly spicy | English Fuggle | Not specified | Glacier, US Fuggle, US Tettnang, Styrian Golding |
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