Hop family
American "C" hops
The grapefruit-and-pine American aroma varieties — Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus — that defined craft beer.
Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus and the varieties that followed them out of the American breeding programmes from the 1970s onward. The initial is a convenience rather than a classification: what actually unites them is a high myrcene content and the grapefruit-pine character that defined American craft brewing for thirty years.
Cascade is the one that changed everything, and its arrival is inseparable from the story of American pale ale. What was then a startling flavour is now the reference point against which newer hops are described as being less piney or more tropical, which is a fair indication of how completely it won.
What unites them
High myrcene content producing assertive citrus and resinous pine character. The "C" is a mnemonic rather than a classification, and several varieties that fit the flavour profile do not begin with C while some that do are quite different.
Grouped by what they smell like rather than by breeding or origin.
Varieties carrying this character
- Ahtanum
A gentle American aroma hop with grapefruit and floral character, softer than Cascade.
- Amarillo
A softly floral American hop with orange and apricot character, gentler than most of its contemporaries.
- Cascade
The hop that started American craft brewing: bright grapefruit and floral character, unlike anything in the beer market of its time.
- Centennial
An intense citrus-and-floral American hop, often described as a stronger Cascade, and a workhorse of American IPA.
- Chinook
A powerfully resinous American hop: pine, grapefruit pith and a firm, sometimes harsh bitterness.
- Columbus
A dank, resinous high-alpha American hop, sold interchangeably as CTZ, and used both for bitterness and for pungent aroma.
- Comet
An older American variety revived for its unusual wild, grassy, grapefruit character.
- Palisade
An American aroma hop with apricot, grass and clean floral character.
- Simcoe
A distinctive American hop combining pine and passionfruit with a characteristic catty, dank edge.
9 varieties, grouped by character rather than by pedigree — so hops bred elsewhere to a family’s profile are listed alongside its traditional members, and the count will not always match a list of names given above. A hop can also belong to more than one family. The hop index carries every variety.