Hop
El Dorado
A sweet, candy-like modern American hop with pronounced pear drop, watermelon and stone fruit.
Aroma and flavour
Descriptors are impressions rather than analytical results. BeerHQ rates this characterisation as commonly reported.
Belongs to
Analysis
| Alpha acid | 13–16% |
|---|---|
| Total oil | 3–4 ml/100 g |
| Purpose | dual purpose |
| Origin | United States |
| Released | 2010 |
| Storage stability | good |
The name is a registered trademark rather than a plain variety name, which affects what a label may say and who may grow it.
How it is used
- Whirlpool / hop stand. Steeped below boiling after flameout. Extracts aroma and flavour with limited additional bitterness.
- Dry hop. Added after the boil, during or after fermentation. Contributes aroma and flavour with essentially no isomerised bitterness.
- Bittering (early boil). Added at or near the start of the boil, where long exposure isomerises alpha acids into bitterness and drives off aroma.
If you like El Dorado
Hops with comparable character. Similarity and substitutability are different questions, so each entry says which it is: a hop can smell alike and still change the beer if its alpha acid is far off.
Galaxy 12–16% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with El Dorado; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
Not the same: nothing in the recorded profile separates the two, which means BeerHQ cannot tell you how they differ rather than that they are interchangeable.
Close enough in both aroma and alpha acid to swap in a recipe.
Melba 12–16% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with El Dorado; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
Not the same: nothing in the recorded profile separates the two, which means BeerHQ cannot tell you how they differ rather than that they are interchangeable.
Close enough in both aroma and alpha acid to swap in a recipe.
Citra 11–13% alpha · editorial
A comparable tropical hop with more citrus bite.
Not the same: nothing in the recorded profile separates the two, which means BeerHQ cannot tell you how they differ rather than that they are interchangeable.
Smells alike, but the alpha acid differs enough that a like-for-like swap would change the bitterness.
Eclipse 14–18% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with El Dorado; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
Not the same: nothing in the recorded profile separates the two, which means BeerHQ cannot tell you how they differ rather than that they are interchangeable.
Close enough in both aroma and alpha acid to swap in a recipe.
Styrian Wolf 10–15% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with El Dorado; an aroma variety though it bitters more gently.
Not the same: nothing in the recorded profile separates the two, which means BeerHQ cannot tell you how they differ rather than that they are interchangeable.
Smells alike, but the alpha acid differs enough that a like-for-like swap would change the bitterness.
Straight substitutes
Close enough in both character and alpha acid to swap at a similar weight. Substitution is directional and imperfect — these are the nearest available options, not equivalents.
- Galaxy — Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with El Dorado; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
- Melba — Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with El Dorado; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
- Eclipse — Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with El Dorado; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
- Azacca — Shares tropical fruit, citrus with El Dorado; a dual-purpose variety at a comparable alpha acid.