Cascade, Centennial..

Okay, so my very first brew was an Irish Red, and I could tell instantly that I wasn't fond of it. I didn't know at the time what it was but I knew that it reminded me of the hop additions.

Looking back, my Irish Red hops was Cascade.

Today I did my Rogue Mocha Porter clone (all-grain) and it used a style of hops I'd not worked with yet... Centennial. I ripped open the package and.. BAM. A smell I didn't like, that Cascade-like hop smell...

Having just tasted my hydrometer sample it has a VERY strong flavour of centennial hops, which tasted a lot like the Cascade I don't like.

Lo and behold. Hopunion lists Centennial as a "Super Cascade" and puts Amarillo right along with it.

Is amarillo similar in flavour to Cascade? Are there any other hop varieties I should avoid, KNOWING I don't like Cascade or Centennial?

I would encourage you to look over a hop chart or two and try the classics. Classically (but not always) if it starts with a "C" it is an American, and usually a hybrid of something else.

Go try some classic English hop varieties, I really like Fuggles smyslef. Try a real German or Czech hop like Hallertau or Saaz.

The charts make a whole lot more sense when you have had three dramatically different styles rather than three close together.

I agree with Poindexter. Try Fuggles or EKG's and Hallertau or Spalt.

I believe in my Starthistle Red I used EKG and Perle.

This is a good guide to substitutions. Figure out what part of Cascades you don't like (flowery, spicy, citrusy) and work through the list.

http://byo.com/referenceguide/hops/index.html