Complete List of Hop Varieties / Hop Cheat Sheet

So, whenever I'm researching a new recipe or looking for some interesting new hops to use, I can't help but notice that no one website seems to have a list of every single hop available today.

There are some great resources out there, but none I could scan in a hurry and be sure to find every hop. The Homebrewtalk Wiki obviously has a great page full of hop descriptions for a huge number of varieties, but it's still missing a few, and it's also not the easiest format to print out or click through if you're in a hurry. Same with Brew Dudes and Rebel Brewer, which are also great sites. Other sites have a nice format, but are years out of date. Etc.

I decided to make such a list. It took me a few weeks of cross-referencing a number of sources, but here it is. I plan to keep this updated any time new hops come onto the scene. There are a few things I didn't include, to keep it streamlined: I didn't include any information on the history or breeding programs that produced the hop. I didn't include "recommended styles" because I've always felt that such recommendations were arbitrarily narrow and often redundant given the other info. I also did not include any varieties that are no longer commercially available.

I'm sure I'm still missing one or two varieties, so if anyone notices any currently-available hops that aren't on there, let me know. Or any other recommendations for the list. I hope this is of use to people.

And here it is: Bear Flavored: BEAR FLAVORED'S ULTIMATE GUIDE TO HOP VARIETIES / HOP CHEAT SHEET

Nice, now someone just needs to make little charts for them all like brew365 did.

Also, you seem to have missed Tettnanger on your list.

Cool man.

You have Centennial as one of the substitutes for Centennial..I'm guessing you meant Cascade.

Cool man.

You have Centennial as one of the substitutes for Centennial..I'm guessing you meant Cascade.

You're not even close to listing every hop commercially available. However, you have hit most of those that are currently available in the US. Serebriankas and Sonnet Goldings, which are currently available in the US, are missing. It also might be useful if you listed whether they are conventionally bittering, aroma, or dual-use hops.

Glossolalia said:

You're not even close to listing every hop commercially available. However, you have hit most of those that are currently available in the US. Serebriankas and Sonnet Goldings, which are currently available in the US, are missing. It also might be useful if you listed whether they are conventionally bittering, aroma, or dual-use hops.

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I forgot to mention, I intentionally left out the usual "bittering / aroma / dual-use" distinction. I got about halfway through the list with that information there and decided it's a little redundant. The alpha acid content is usually enough to tell you how to use it for bittering, and the "characteristics" let you know what it would be like if used as a late-addition hop, so classifying it further seemed redundant to me. I know other sites do, but it just seemed sort of arbitrary and limiting to me. There are very few hops I wouldn't consider using as aroma hops in certain situations.

Yeah, I know there are some I surely missed, and like I said, I plan to keep this updated as much as possible. I'm not seeing "Serebriankas" for sale anywhere, or much info about it, but I'll do some more Googling on those two. Thanks.

I found Serebrianka and Sonnet Goldings on Hops Direct and added those to the list. Serebrianka is the first Russian hops I've seen, which is pretty cool.

nice job...

-Redbeard5289

I'm curious as to how you came up with the substitutions. My experience with some of the hops listed disagrees with the subs for several hops.

If you go on BYO website you can order the special Hop Lovers Issue and they have a great handy tear out chart that is very useful.

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Hop Lover's Guide

IffyG said:

I'm curious as to how you came up with the substitutions. My experience with some of the hops listed disagrees with the subs for several hops.

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Unfortunately, many of these I have not had first-hand experience with — and I do plan on adding more detailed personalized information whenever I can. (I will be doing lots and lots of single-hop IPAs in my brewing career.) So a lot of the information is based on my research online. Like I said, I tried to cross-reference as many different sources as possible, ideally four or five different sites per hop. So for the substitutions (and descriptions), I tried to find the common ground between all the sites I was looking at, and then narrow it down by what they agreed on, and what made sense (by comparing hop descriptions.)

That said, if you have any recommendations you think would be more accurate, I'd happily look into that and update the list accordingly. The idea is that it will forever be a work in progress.

One that jumped out at me immediately was Sticklebract and Simcoe. The two are nothing alike. I did a series of small batch single hop beers (Centennial, Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade and Sticklebract) and the Sticklebract was the red headed step child in the bunch.

I could barely finish a Sticklebract single hop beer and wouldn't consider using it place of Simcoe.

There's no real substitute for Simcoe except maybe Falconer's Flight because it has Simcoe in it.

Nice work! Also, great bear-attack-defense graphic. That would make a great t-shirt.

Also missing one of my favorites: Strisselspalt.

Added Strisselspalt. Also updated the substituions for Simcoe and Sticklebract, but I'll be working on those more when I can do some more research.

Updated the Guide with Legacy, El Dorado and Comet hops:

http://www.bear-flavored.com/2011/12/bear-flavoreds-ultimate-guide-to-hop.html?utm_source=BP_recent

I like it...Thanks

No Meridian

SPLASTiK said:

No Meridian

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Whoa, that's an obscure one. I'm not finding much info on Meridian hops, the only page with a description I see is this IPA: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/equinox-meridian-ipa/131203/

Do you have any other resources you could point me toward? Thanks!

othellomcbane said:

Whoa, that's an obscure one. I'm not finding much info on Meridian hops, the only page with a description I see is this IPA: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/equinox-meridian-ipa/131203/

Do you have any other resources you could point me toward? Thanks!

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Not too many. I just heard about it last month when a brewery kicked off AK Beer Week by dry hopping a firkin of IPA with it but I can only find references to maybe 3 or 4 other breweries who have tried it. I've heard they're citrusy (orange, lemon, grapefruit) as well as tropical fruit.

Apparently they're available through Indie Hops but their website doesn't mention them other than pricing:
http://www.indiehops.com/pdf/IH_contract_pricing.pdf

I guess I could e-mail them and ask for more info on the variety...

Homebrew shop who apparently carries them:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...477667636.67093.283389601700357&type=1&ref=nf

othellomcbane said:

I forgot to mention, I intentionally left out the usual "bittering / aroma / dual-use" distinction... I know other sites do, but it just seemed sort of arbitrary and limiting to me. There are very few hops I wouldn't consider using as aroma hops in certain situations.
.

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Totally agree with all of this. A lot of hops that would have been bittering-only in the past have worked their way into the late-addition camp of today's "any hop, any beer, any time" brewers. Anyway, your chart is the most comprehensive I've found and I've bookmarked it, so thank you.

Was at the homebrewshop this week and saw two varieties I hadn't heard of before, Opal and Smaragd, so the list has been updated with them.

I picked up 2 oz of Smaragd because, come on, I had to with a name that awesome. They sound interesting, a German response to Amarillo and Simcoe, apparently. I have no idea what I'll brew with them yet , since I already have my brewing schedule plotted out for the next 8 months.

I've also been drinking a Galaxy single hop I brewed the other month, and can confirm that Galaxy has a wonderful ripe passionfruit / tropical fruit thing going on. Great hop, although the bitterness is very mellow.

Link 2 the List: http://www.bear-flavored.com/2011/12/bear-flavoreds-ultimate-guide-to-hop.html

Very nice dude, well done.

One comment; you may want to take retailers ideas on substitutes with a grain of salt. Who is going to recommend something they don't sell? Their advice may be rather biased.

Thanks! Yeah, that was one reason I tried to use a number of sources, and then compare them based on each hop's characteristics. If two hops didn't sound particularly similar from their description, I didn't list them as a substitute.

Having % for cohumulone would be nice, as it indicates bittering harshness per IBU. For instance, 50 IBUs worth of Magnum doesn't taste nearly as bitter as 50 IBUs from Chinook or Cascade.

That's a great suggestion, thanks. I'll do the research and get that info in there the next night I have a few hours.

Added a few more hops to the guide today: Aurora, Herkules, Meridian, Mosaic, Premiant and Taurus.

Mosaic sounds particularly interesting, but there's very little info out there on it yet (and of course, I'll update the entry on the chart as I learn more.) Supposedly fruity with blueberry notes, which I've never seen before in another hop. I got most of the info for it from Stan Hieronymous on the BeerSmith Podcast #37. According to him, a few breweries have access to it now, but it should be available to homebrewers after the 2012 hop harvest (so in fall, presumably.) I'll definitely be on the lookout for it to do a single hop IPA.

Review of Apollo is incomplete. Resin is accurate. But actually, I don't get spice, or that much citrus. I do however get a fresh bag of dank marijuana upon smelling it.

Centennial is way fruitier than Cascade. Sort of a potent stone fruit/citrus fruit combo.

Columbus has some piney earth, resin, dankness.

Horizon is underrated and actually more fragrant than most hops. Similar to Amarillo.

Amarillo is not tropical.

You're missing Northern Brewer US and GR. The US version is a little minty.

Simcoe is not oniony at all. I hear that complaint about Summit though I don't experience it in my brewing.

Sorachi Ace is pure lemongrass and lemon pine sole floor cleaner. I don't know where you got cream or buttery.

Missed the cat pee descriptor in some of these hops, like Nelson.

Chinook is not cloying in large doses, but Citra is.

Good luck with your list. I've brewed with all of these hops in IPAs many, many times.

That is a cool list, thanks for the work you put into it!

Does anyone know how to make Apps? There was one started for hop varieties but it looks like it was abandoned and wasn't a very useful list to begin with. If this info was put in a smartphone app, I would actually pay a buck or two to have all of this at my fingertips while I am hop shopping or recipe building in my iPhone.

If the components were all categorized in a spreadsheet then the app could be setup so one could do flavor searches to find the variety for example. Wouldn't that be cool to go into an app and search for "citrus" and then a list of hop varieties show up?

bobbrews said:

Review of Apollo is incomplete. Resin is accurate. But actually, I don't get spice, or that much citrus. I do however get a fresh bag of dank marijuana upon smelling it.

Centennial is way fruitier than Cascade. Sort of a potent stone fruit/citrus fruit combo.

Columbus has some piney earth, resin, dankness.

Horizon is underrated and actually more fragrant than most hops. Similar to Amarillo.

Amarillo is not tropical.

You're missing Northern Brewer US and GR. The US version is a little minty.

Simcoe is not oniony at all. I hear that complaint about Summit though I don't experience it in my brewing.

Sorachi Ace is pure lemongrass and lemon pine sole floor cleaner. I don't know where you got cream or buttery.

Missed the cat pee descriptor in some of these hops, like Nelson.

Chinook is not cloying in large doses, but Citra is.

Good luck with your list. I've brewed with all of these hops in IPAs many, many times.

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Thanks, that's some great feedback. You sort of got me thinking... as much as I wish I had had the time to do so, I have only brewed single-hop beers with a few of these varieties. It will be years, maybe decades, before I could possibly get intensive first-hand experience with all of them. (Seeking out breweries' single-hop beers helps, but they aren't all that common or easy to find.) So ultimately, it comes down to trusting what other people have reported online... whether on a forum, a homebrew supply store, or someone's blog.

My descriptions are compiled from various sources, four or five different sources whenever possible. I took the characteristics I saw pop up a few different time, and ruled out anything that sounded contradictory or off. That's still not as good as first-hand experience though — I have a feeling that the same descriptions for many of these hops, particularly the older ones, have just been repeated from source to source over the years, and many of the guides online are just copy / pasted from other guides. Not that I claim mine is any more accurate, but I avoided ever directly copy/pasting.

Most of your suggestions ring true to me, and I'll definitely be tweaking the list based on your suggestions. Thanks again for the feedback. I'm hoping to eventually brew single-hop beers with all the newish or unique sounding varieties. Right now I'm working on a Nelson Sauvin single hop pale ale.

ColumbusAmongus said:

That is a cool list, thanks for the work you put into it!

Does anyone know how to make Apps? There was one started for hop varieties but it looks like it was abandoned and wasn't a very useful list to begin with. If this info was put in a smartphone app, I would actually pay a buck or two to have all of this at my fingertips while I am hop shopping or recipe building in my iPhone.

If the components were all categorized in a spreadsheet then the app could be setup so one could do flavor searches to find the variety for example. Wouldn't that be cool to go into an app and search for "citrus" and then a list of hop varieties show up?

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Thanks! That's a great idea, and I really wish I had any sort of coding knowledgeable. I would have no idea where to even begin, but hopefully someone out there will take up the challenge soon.

Check out this resource. The most complete list I have found to date.

http://www.freshops.com/hops/usda-named-hop-variety-descriptions

Check out this blog, especially the 12 part series interview with Dr Al Haunold, the 'people's hopmeister' , USDA inventor of over 20 hop varieties. A lot of good info to use on updating your list!

http://inhoppursuit.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-proprietary-hops.html

KOELSCHKING said:

Check out this blog, especially the 12 part series interview with Dr Al Haunold, the 'people's hopmeister' , USDA inventor of over 20 hop varieties. A lot of good info to use on updating your list!

http://inhoppursuit.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-proprietary-hops.html

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My link above has some good charts. Here's a better link to Dr Al interviews

http://inhoppursuit.blogspot.com/se...08:00&max-results=7&reverse-paginate=true&m=1

Thanks. I'll sort through all that, it looks to have some good info. I am purposely trying to leave off older varieties that aren't available for purchase anymore, and that one list seems to really have everything covered, historic or otherwise.

That's an interesting discussion about proprietary hops too.

othellomcbane said:

Thanks. I'll sort through all that, it looks to have some good info. I am purposely trying to leave off older varieties that aren't available for purchase anymore, and that one list seems to really have everything covered, historic or otherwise.

That's an interesting discussion about proprietary hops too.

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Yeah. Inhoppursuit.com is a very interesting blog. I really advise everyone interested in learning about hops read through the posts ( excluding the ones about bicycling).

Also, not sure if you've seen this… very cool chart.

http://www.fermentarium.com/homebrewing/brewing-beer/a-very-cool-hop-chart/

I added a few new varieties, including some new Australian / NZ varieties. New hops on the list include: Helga, Stella, and Summer. Summer hops sound particularly interesting to me, and I'll probably do a single-hop something later this year.

I'm also slowly adding Beta Acids and Cohumulone info to the hop list.

This site (http://beerlegends.com/hops-varieties) has the alpha/beta/co-humulone, as well as a breakdown of myrcene/farnesene/etc, which would be more helpful to me if I could remember which one did what. Might help you along with your compilation.

kingwood-kid said:

This site (http://beerlegends.com/hops-varieties) has the alpha/beta/co-humulone, as well as a breakdown of myrcene/farnesene/etc, which would be more helpful to me if I could remember which one did what. Might help you along with your compilation.

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Excellent, thanks. I'll definitely keep that on my resource list. Going to start adding Beta/Cohumulone for the more popular varieties first... Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo, etc.

I agree about that last part... I feel like those are almost too technical for a quick-reference chart, especially since they sort of duplicate what the "Characteristics" section tells you. That chart someone linked is a really cool visual way of breaking them down though.