This list Could be very large. Please vote for your favorite Flavor/Aroma hop for American IPAs. Usually this is done using more than one hop so on this poll vote for 2.
What are your favorite flavor/Aroma hops for American IPAs?
Wow, that shows how far things have come ! When I started, Cascade was the dominant LHBS hop by far for ales. Recipe books had Cascade in most recipes, appropriate or not.
I think that’s a lot of why I got burned out on Cascade roughly a decade ago and haven’t really used it much (at home) since. Not that there’s anything wrong with it per se; I just feel like with the progress that’s been made in hop breeding over the past few years, I can cherry-pick whatever aspect of Cascade I want in a particular recipe, and select another hop to get me there.
I like the fact that cascade has a bit of everything (Citrusy, flowery, touch of piney), and it just adds complexity while sticking with whatever I want. For Example, if I want a citrus bomb IPA, I can use Amarillo and Citra, and the flower and pine support the citrus, but make it more complex. If I go the other way, and use Simcoe and Chinook, I can use the citrus to give me some extra complexity. It is almost guaranteed that I will have Cascade in any American style I make.
I agree. I don’t use Cascade alone anymore, but I do like it in a blend. It is a unique blend of floral/citrus/slight pine, and I like those same combos for the same reasons. Amarillo/Cascade/Centennial/Columbus in the right ratio covers the spectrum for me, unless I go for a fruitier IPA , or occasionally a more piney one. It’s another hop that plays well with pretty much everybody.
Voted for Cascade and Columbus (Chinook not on list), but like a variety using Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Mosaic, Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial alone or in combinations.