Hop
Harlequin
A modern English aroma hop with pronounced peach and pineapple character.
Harlequin is among the more successful of the recent British varieties, offering a fruit-forward profile at a workable alpha and with better disease resistance than the older English hops.
It substitutes usefully for a New World variety where a British supply chain matters.
Aroma and flavour
Descriptors are impressions rather than analytical results. BeerHQ rates this characterisation as commonly reported.
Belongs to
Analysis
| Alpha acid | 8–11% |
|---|---|
| Purpose | aroma |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Storage stability | unknown |
How it is used
- Late boil. Added in the last few minutes, retaining more aromatic oils while adding modest bitterness.
- 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.
If you like Harlequin
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.
Triumph 8–12% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; 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.
Southern Passion 9–11% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; 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.
Nectaron 8–12% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; 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.
Olicana 7–10% alpha
Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; 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 Harlequin; an aroma variety though it bitters harder.
Not the same: 3 points higher in alpha acid, so a like-for-like weight swap would change the bitterness.
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.
- Triumph — Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
- Southern Passion — Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
- Nectaron — Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.
- Olicana — Shares tropical fruit, stone fruit, citrus with Harlequin; an aroma variety at a comparable alpha acid.