What is responsible for making hop aroma(s) & flavor(s) so different from one another

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EyePeeA

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Does anyone know of any recent and thorough weblinks that details total hop oil %, myrcene, caryophyllene, humulene, farnesene, selinene, etc.

I'm trying to research to the differences between American and non-American hops, aside from the average alpha acid %. I am specifically interested in the flavor and aroma contributions. And I have a feeling it has to do with the total oil content and the specific compounds that make up the hops.

I want to know if there's a link between total oil content and these compounds that help to bring out those floral citrus, fruity, and piney flavors (as opposed to European hops where we get spicy, earth, grassy hay).

This was the only link I could find:

http://www.usahops.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hop_info&pageID=7

I would like to cross-reference it w/other links for accuracy & up-to-date info since some varieties are missing and/or partial data is given.

Thanks.
 
I use that usahops.org link is as well.

I've noticed a strong tie between high total oil content and/or high levels of myrcene, and those typical citrusy, fruity, piney aromatics. This seems to be prevalent in American Pacific Northwest hops and some New Zealand varieties.

You do not always see high oil and high myrcene together, but at least one of the two always exists. Though you never see a high oil content hop with high levels of the other compounds and extremely low levels of myrcene. We tend to see lower total oil content and lower levels of myrcene in European hops. So that might be a big part of the link you are searching for.
 
The Hopunion website has a nice 'Hop Variety Handbook' on their website that has a lot of information in it that you may find helpful.
 
Not real thorough but here's some info: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23186043.

I don't think the total oil amount has that big of a correlation to the individual aroma characteristic specific to the varieties as much as the amount of certain compounds contained within each variety. Eugenol=spiciness, Linalool=floral, Geraniol, Citral, Neral=citrus etc., etc.. Most all hops contain a great big list of these types of compounds but it's the proportions in which they're found that gives each variety it's very own unique aroma. Keep looking and I'm sure you'll find a bunch of stuff on the internet.

Hoppy Trails!
 
I've just started reading "For the Love of Hops" by Stan Hieronymus and it begins to touch on what you are asking. This is turning out to be an interesting book. Unfortunately, your efforts of finding a somewhat simple correlation won't be so simple.
 
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