Beer Brewing

Challenger is the English hop that I’d choose if I could only use one British variety for a full lineup of traditional ales.

Cluster is the oldest American hop variety still in commercial cultivation, and I first used it when building a pre-Prohibition American lager recipe that called for the only hop that would have been available to American brewers in that era.

Motueka is the New Zealand hop I use most often in craft lager recipes because it does something specific: it delivers lime-forward citrus with a mild tropical background in a package that’s delicate enough for lager hop rates without overwhelming …

Ella (formerly Stella) is an Australian hop variety I started using after reading that it combined spice and floral character in a way that’s unusual for Southern Hemisphere hops — most Australian and NZ varieties lean tropical-citrus, but Ella speci

Sterling is the American noble-style hop I use when a recipe calls for Saaz and I want an American-grown alternative.

McKenzie is a hop variety I’ve used mainly in session ales and blonde ales where I wanted citrus-forward character without the intensity of Citra or the grapefruit sharpness of Centennial.

HBC 1019, released commercially as Dolcita, is one of the newer experimental varieties I’ve been paying attention to since its public release.

Krush hops landed on my radar through a New Zealand hop supplier recommendation — it’s a NZ-bred variety that produces an unmistakable liquid mango character that’s more intense and true-to-fruit than most hops marketed as “tropical.

Barbe Rouge is a French hop variety I discovered when researching alternatives to American varieties for a Bière de Garde I was developing.

Hersbrucker is the German noble hop I use when I want delicate floral and herbal character in lagers without the more assertive spice of Saaz or the malt-forward character of Hallertau.