The Ultimate Hop Profile Guide

Its a good thing to know the hop profiles that you put in your beer as well as the hop substitutes for that particular beer that you are making.  So many times there are these weird out of the blue hop shortages that happen. The worst was just a few years back which homebrew shops were limiting the amount of hops people could buy because they didn’t know when they were going to get them.

The problem with hop shortages is that they really happen over night.  The one a few years ago happened because in Czech they had a hail storm which wiped out the hop fields and then in Yakima where the hops are stored in the US, there warehouse burned down.  It was the perfect storm which made some hops go up to $7.99 and up for 2 ounces.  It was bad.

Either way, it’s nice to be prepared.  So at Jay’s Brewing we created this Hop Profile Guide with some substitutes to help you better prepare yourself in case hops become difficult to get.

Amarillo:

Sometimes described as “super cascade”.

Alpha Acid: 7-9%

Usage: Flavor and Aroma in American style ales

Possible Substitutes: Cascade, Centennial, Summit, Ahtanum

Brewers Gold

Spicy and fruity

Alpha Acid: 8-10%

Usage: Bittering

Possible Substitutes: Bullion, Chinook, Galena, Nugget

Bullion

One of the oldest high-alpha hops in the world. It’s and English hop.  It is earthy/musty

Alpha Acid: 6.5-9%

Usage: Bittering

Possible Substitutes: Columbus, Northern Brewer

Cascade

Very versatile hop that presents itself as citrusy and flowery.

Alpha Acid: 5-7%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering.

Possible Substitutes:  Amarillo, Centennial, Summit

Centennial

Similar to Cascade but with a higher alpha acid %.

Alpha Acid: 7.5-11%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering.

Possible Substitutes: Amarillo, Cascade, Columbus, Summit

Challenger 

Strong, spicy. A clean bittering hop.

Alpha Acid: 6.5-8.5%

Usage: Bittering Possible Substitutes: Perle, Admiral

Chinook

Spicy aroma, somewhat herbal.

Alpha Acid: 10-14%

Usage: Bittering.

Possible Substitutes: Brewers Gold, Columbus, Galena, Nugget, Northern Brewer

Cluster

This was the precursor to cascade hops, so very similar.

Alpha Acid: 6-8.5%

Usage: Bittering Possible Substitutes: Galena, Cascade

Columbus

Herbal aroma, solid bittering hop

Alpha Acid: 11-15%

Usage: Bittering.

Possible Substitutes: Magnum, Chinook, Northern Brewer, Warrior, Millenium, Bullion

Crystal

Slightly spicy aroma

Alpha Acid: 3-4.5%

Usage: Flavor and Aroma

Possible Substitutes: Mt. Hood, Liberty, Hallertauer, Tettnanger, Strisselspalt

East Kent Goldings

Traditional English ale hop.

Alpha Acid: 4-6%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering.

Possible Substitutes:  Fuggle, Progress, First Gold

Fuggle

Grassy, light aroma. Used in English style Ales.

Alpha Acid: 4-6%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering.

Possible Substitutes:  Willamette, Styrian Golding, Tettnanger, Newport

Galena

Pretty bitter hop, but extremely clean.

Alpha Acid: 10-14%

Usage: Bittering.

Possible Substitutes:  Brewers Gold, Nugget, Cluster, Chinook, Eroica, Newport

Glacier 

Citrus aroma with candy like qualities.

Alpha Acid: 5.5%

Usage: Aroma

Possible Substitutes:  Willamette, Fuggle, Tettnanger, Styrian Goldings

Hallertau

Nice all-around hop with pleasant characteristics. German noble hop.

Alpha Acid: 3-6%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering.

Grown in the U.S. and Germany. Possible Substitutes:  Liberty, Tettnanger, Mt.Hood, Vangaurd, Tradition

Horizon

Presents a nice, soft round bitterness for such a high-alpha hop. 

Alpha Acid: 11-14%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering.

Possible Substitutes: Magnum

Liberty

Very light aroma

Alpha Acid: 3-6%

Usage: Flavor and Aroma.

Possible Substitutes: Hallertau, Tettnanger, Mt. Hood, Crystal

Magnum 

Alpha Acid: 13-15%

Usage: Bittering

U.S. Possible Substitutes:  Horizon, Newport

Mt. Hood

Extremely close to Hallertau, but a bit spicier

Alpha Acid: 4-7%

Usage: Flavor and Aroma.

Possible Substitutes: Hallertauer, Liberty, Crystal, Strisselspalt

Northern Brewer

Clean hop, has woody characteristics to it

Alpha Acid: 7-10%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering. Good all-around hop. Used quite often in Steam Beers.

Possible Substitutes: Nugget, Chinook, Columbus, Bullion, Perle, Styrian Aurora

Nugget

Very strong bittering hop.

Alpha Acid: 11-14%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering 

Possible Substitutes: Cluster, Galena, Brewers Gold, Warrior, Eroica, Target, Millenium 

Perle 

Almost minty smell to it.

Alpha Acid: 6-9%

Usage: Flavor, Aroma, and Bittering  Possible Substitutes: Challenger, Northern Brewer

Progress

English hop developed to provide a more wilt-resistant alternative to Fuggles.

Alpha Acid: 5-8%

Usage: Bittering.

Possible Substitutes: Fuggles, E.K. Goldings

Saaz

Very light and clean, seen in a lot of Pilsners

Alpha Acid: 3-4.5%

Usage: Flavor and Aroma.

Possible Substitutes: Sladek, Lublin, Sterling, Ultra, Vangaurd

Simcoe:

Has a passion fruit aroma to it.

Alpha Acid: 12%-14%

Usage: Bittering and Aroma

Possible Substitutes: Northern Brewer, Galena

Sterling 

Earthy, spicy, but very similar to Saaz

Alpha Acid: 6%-9%

Usage: Aroma

Possible Substitutes: Saaz, Lublin
Styrian Goldings

Very similar to Fuggles

Alpha Acid: 5.5%

Usage: Bittering and Aroma

Possible Substitutes: Fuggle, Willamette

Tettnanger

Spicier then Hallertau.  It is a traditional german noble hop.

Alpha Acid: 3-5%

Usage: Flavor and Aroma.

Possible Substitutes: Hallertau, Liberty, Fuggle
Vangaurd

Slightly flowery, mild in aroma.

Alpha Acid: 5.5% – 6%

Usage: Aroma

Possible Substitutes: Saaz, Hallertauer

Warrior

Extremely clean bittering hop.

Alpha Acid: 15%-17%

Usage: Bittering

Possible Substitutes: Nugget, Columbus

Willamette

Hybrid of fuggles, earthy and woody

Alpha Acid: 4%-6%

Usage: Aroma and flavoring

Possible Substitutes: Styrian Golding, Target, Fuggle, Tettnanger, Glacier

We did get a bit of help and these were the sites that we went to:

http://www.thebitterbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=80

http://www.homebrewzone.com/hops_varieties.htm