What is your "go to" hop variety?

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permo

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I am a hophead for sure, and I usually have 3-5 pounds of hops on hand. I recently noticed a trend, with every single hop order I usually get at least one pound of willamette hops. They are rising to the top of my list as a very versatile and affordable hop strain. I could sure brew without it, but right now I always need to have at least a pound of it on hand. It is good for everything, pseudo lagers, IPA's, APA's, stouts, bitters, porters...etc..etc...awesome in kolsch and cream ale.

Gotta have it.

I am wondering what other brewers have discovered to be there "go to" hop variety.
 
Amarillo is my favorite for both start and finish. I just tried Citra last week for my first time in an American Wheat. I won't know what that tastes like 'til about August 24th.
 
I appreciate the input so far guys, willamete is just so darned smooth and versatile. I almost always use at least 3 hop varieties in most of my beers. Magnum is my current bittering hop for all purposes, but I could easily brew a myriad of tasty beverages only with willamete alone.
 
Cascade for american beers, though I enjoy playing with different varieties and end up buying WAY more hops than I could reasonably use at a time, and have 4 or 5 lbs (or more) chilling in the freezer. I have found, however, that pellet hops which are vacuum sealed and stored at -40 in the deep freezer keep well for (at least) three years with no noticeable degradation in aroma. Whole hops do not store nearly as well or as long

However, I mostly brew english-style beers, so I tend to use a lot of UK hops. Favourites include UK fuggles, Styrians, Northdown, Challenger, and (my new favourite) First Gold.
 
permo said:
I am a hophead for sure, and I usually have 3-5 pounds of hops on hand. I recently noticed a trend, with every single hop order I usually get at least one pound of willamette hops. They are rising to the top of my list as a very versatile and affordable hop strain. I could sure brew without it, but right now I always need to have at least a pound of it on hand. It is good for everything, pseudo lagers, IPA's, APA's, stouts, bitters, porters...etc..etc...awesome in kolsch and cream ale.

Gotta have it.

I am wondering what other brewers have discovered to be there "go to" hop variety.
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Willamette's like a tamer Fuggles; the latter is one I use a lot.

Fuggles, Centennial, Saaz, and Northern Brewer seem to be ones I use most often. Cascade, Amarillo, and East Kent Goldings are on the next tier.
 
Crystal for bright hoppy beer, Willamette for subtler stuff, but that's probably because I bought a pound of each last year.:eek: This may be the year of Cascade and Spalt Select (and Crystal again...).
 
I use a lot of Fuggle, Sterling, and Crystal, probably in that order. Between the three I pretty much have all my bases covered, except for the annual IIPA.:D
 
I keep Magnum on hand at all times. Not only because it's efficient and versatile, but it seems as though since you only need .4 - .5oz for a 5 gallon batch (I'm not a hophead :eek:), it lets the malt take center stage as well. My favorite hops for finishing beers are any of the German Hallertau varieties and a nice, bright Centennial.
 
I am thinking about ordering up some columbus soon as well. I know that the bittering on this is very smooth, as Magic Hat uses it for nearly all of their bittering, I have also heard great things about the aroma of this hop as well. SO my next order may have to be columbus and willamete!
 
I use a lot of cascade since I have couple pounds on hand all year found. I grow them. I as well seem to frequently make beers with willamette. I seem to always have several oz of them. I have a pound of sorachi ace that will be good for an ipa. Oh yah!!!!
 
for Bittering/Flavor Columbus, robust and neutral (just plain hoppy) with a pungent presence.

for Flavor/Aroma Willamette or Amarillo (I know I shouldn't choose two, but they are each uniquely fantastic.
 
My go to hop is Challenger. I brew a lot of English beers and the hop is great for bittering, flavor, or aroma.
 
Simcoe, Cascade, Columbus, Amarillo, Centennial, Magnum, & Warrior are my favorite hops that I use on a regular basis. If I had to choose one it would be Simcoe. I have used Citra recently and like it quite a bit. Also looking forward to using Soarchi Ace for my summer beers. Montanaandy
 
Willamette is a great go to hop as it is balanced and can be had on the cheap. It also goes well in a lot of styles.

Amarillo is my hop I always want to use if I am planning on any substantial hop flavor/aroma in the finished product.
 
KyleWolf said:
for Bittering/Flavor Columbus, robust and neutral (just plain hoppy) with a pungent presence.

for Flavor/Aroma Willamette or Amarillo (I know I shouldn't choose two, but they are each uniquely fantastic.
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I gotta disagree on one point: Columbus is not a neutral bittering hop. Magnum's the prototype of a "just plain hoppy" neutral bittering hop. Columbus is a fine hop for American IPAs and similar, but it's definitely got a significant citrus/pine American slant. Magnum, Glacier, and even Horizon, Millenium, and Warrior and maybe Galena are better clean bittering hops to me.

Also, Willamette is nice but to me is the poor man's Fuggles; it's like Fuggles without half the flavor. If you have the option, Fuggles is a better choice (Willamette's the tentative, less robust fill-in; you can replace it with the same amount of Fuggles for bittering and half the amount for flavor/aroma additions).

Amarillo is totally awesome, but very distinctive--if you're going for a really grapefruity citrus thing, it can't be beat. As I said upthread it's easily one of my favorite 5-10 hops ever even though it's not super general. Everyone needs to try it.
 
SumnerH said:
I gotta disagree on one point: Columbus is not a neutral bittering hop. Magnum's the prototype of a "just plain hoppy" neutral bittering hop. Columbus is a fine hop for American IPAs and similar, but it's definitely got a significant citrus/pine American slant. Magnum, Glacier, and even Horizon, Millenium, and Warrior and maybe Galena are better clean bittering hops to me.

Also, Willamette is nice but to me is the poor man's Fuggles; it's like Fuggles without half the flavor. If you have the option, Fuggles is a better choice (Willamette's the tentative, less robust fill-in; you can replace it with the same amount of Fuggles for bittering and half the amount for flavor/aroma additions).

Amarillo is totally awesome, but very distinctive--if you're going for a really grapefruity citrus thing, it can't be beat. As I said upthread it's easily one of my favorite 5-10 hops ever even though it's not super general. Everyone needs to try it.
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For the columbus I believe we will have to agree to disagree, I will say, I havent tried the millenium and galena as bitterings, but I cannot, respectfully, agree with you on warrior. It is a very harsh hop in my opinion. harsher (doesn't look like a word does it?) than what is really ever necessary. I will agree that willamette is somewhat mild and I enjoy that. while milder than fuggles, there are only a handful of recipes I would rather have fuggles than willamette, but then again, these are personal opinions. alteast we can agree that amarillo is fantastic...and that, I will agree with everyday and twice on sundays.d
 
markg388 said:
I keep Magnum on hand at all times. Not only because it's efficient and versatile, but it seems as though since you only need .4 - .5oz for a 5 gallon batch (I'm not a hophead :eek:), it lets the malt take center stage as well. My favorite hops for finishing beers are any of the German Hallertau varieties and a nice, bright Centennial.
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Magnum is my go to bittering hop as well. Then any of the noble hops for lagers, fuggles or EKG for my british ales/porters/stouts.

GT
 
Lots of fantastic commentary and opinions on this thread. I appreciate it very much.

I think Magnum and Willamette are such great hops because of their "subdued" for lack of a better term, flavor and aroma. They suit themselves well to ales and lagers and can be used in virtually any style of beer. I have used mag and will in a tripel that turned out awesome.

This all being said, I am very pleased to read about the, virtually across the board, love for ammarilo. I have never brewed with them before, and just finished up my first ever pound of centennial.

I used to think cascade was such a great hop, move over cascade, centennial is in the house! I am hoping that centennial and ammarilo work good together for my late additions in an india brown ale.
 
I really love hersbrucker in alts
For IPA's I have started migrating from Centennial and Amarillo to Summit.
For wheats and belgian ales I like Saaz.
 
Randar said:
I really love hersbrucker in alts
For IPA's I have started migrating from Centennial and Amarillo to Summit.
For wheats and belgian ales I like Saaz.
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Summit...be carefull ..you could get onion beer!

It works good for bittering, and for smaller late additions.....no first wort hopping, that is for sure.
 
permo said:
Summit...be carefull ..you could get onion beer!

It works good for bittering, and for smaller late additions.....no first wort hopping, that is for sure.
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???

I have used it only for hopburst and late addition. That huge AA% is overkill to try to use as a bittering hop. Never added with less than 30 min remaining in boil and I've never had a single onion beer experience.
 
permo... centennial and amarillo make GREAT friends, and I don't even like IPAs. do it as soon as you can.
 
I still consider myself a new brewer. I am on batch 25. I have been AG since #8 or 9. In order to learn what different hops taste/smell like I brewed seven batches of the same APA grain bill, but I used a different single variety of hops: Cascade, Amarillo, Centennial, Simcoe, Citra, Chinook, and Columbus. I had two tastings so far. Now, my tasters are more BMC drinkers than craft brew, so mostly all I got was, "I like this more than this," but the consensus was Centennial. Chinook, Cascade, and Columbus were other favorites. Amarillo, Simcoe, and Citra were not really liked when compared side by side with the others, however some people seem to like them on their own.
Lucky for me I am growing some Centennials this year. My first time growing.
I think I am going to brew some Centennial/Chinook combinations, and maybe later throw in some Amarillo, Simcoe, or Citra for aroma.
I just bottled two brown ales with Centennial and Chinook hops. The recipes were identical except I doubled the hops in the second. They were pretty good at bottling!
 
Randar said:
???

I have used it only for hopburst and late addition. That huge AA% is overkill to try to use as a bittering hop. Never added with less than 30 min remaining in boil and I've never had a single onion beer experience.
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with %18, it is an efficient and fairly smooth bittering hop, so you could try that too. For hopbursting and late additions it is also fine.

For first wort or for 30 minute additions it should be avoided, IMO. I made 5 gallons of india red onion ale as a result of heavy summit FWH and all the way through the boil.

If you search online you will find other brewers have had similar results, but used in restraint it has an unmatched tangerine note.
 
permo said:
This all being said, I am very pleased to read about the, virtually across the board, love for ammarilo. I have never brewed with them before, and just finished up my first ever pound of centennial.

I used to think cascade was such a great hop, move over cascade, centennial is in the house! I am hoping that centennial and ammarilo work good together for my late additions in an india brown ale.
Click to expand...
I really like Centennial but I recently bought some Simcoe and Amarillo. Still haven't tried the Amarillo but I'm not diggin' the Simcoe at all. Very grapefruity and grapefruit just isn't a flavor/aroma I want in beer. But I don't like high bitterness anyway and just don't 'get' citrusy flavors/aromas in beer. I might end up giving these hops away (begone foul grapefruit pith!).
 
SpanishCastleAle said:
I really like Centennial but I recently bought some Simcoe and Amarillo. Still haven't tried the Amarillo but I'm not diggin' the Simcoe at all. Very grapefruity and grapefruit just isn't a flavor/aroma I want in beer. But I don't like high bitterness anyway and just don't 'get' citrusy flavors/aromas in beer. I might end up giving these hops away (begone foul grapefruit pith!).
Click to expand...

Amarillo is similar to Simcoe i'd say (maybe not as intense)... both are quite citrusy/piney. Stay away from those, maybe cascade too, if you don't like that flavor
 
SchlazzGraft said:
Amarillo is similar to Simcoe i'd say (maybe not as intense)... both are quite citrusy/piney. Stay away from those, maybe cascade too, if you don't like that flavor
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Thanks. I don't get the intense-grapefruit from Cascade, I like Cascade. But I had concerns about the Amarillo, that's why I haven't been in a rush to even open the bag.

I agree with OP about Willamette. Seems I go through twice as much of it as anything. I use a lot of nobles too.
 

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