It has to do with patents, trademarks, and ownership of the variety. Farmers get a premium to agree to grow it, acres are kept limited.
Covered in this discussion.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=5251.0
I have this one friend, he was wondering if the location of Simcoe acreage was public knowledge.
Ha, let us know if this…friend finds the acreage.
haha, ok that all makes sense…sorta
Simcoe is my favorite hop!
Ninja roadtrip! :-X
If you dig deep enough you could find out.
Im down for that roadtrip…chris farley ninja style.
I would wonder if they have a big fence - and hop yard dogs.
Wouldn’t that be fun?! Well, if there weren’t hopyard dogs. My friend should take along hamburger and dilaudid. :o
The closest sub I’ve found is NZ Sticklebrac… no where near the pine that simcoe has, but its there.
After reading some descriptions of hop, I found that the New Zealand High Alpha hop is a fair substitute for Simco. I have gotten a lot of positive feed back from some of my customers. Give it a try.
Simcoe is a high oil hop (2-2.5 mls/100g).
For a sub, I would look for another high oil hop. It will not make the same beer, but I think that is your best bet to get close.
Yeah, both Citra and Chinook have a different character, but because they’re other high oil hops, I’d go in that direction.
I gave the Weyerbacher Double Simcoe another try last night after there was some discussion on another thread here about it. I really picked up a lot of similarity with Columbus. There was a lot of dankness. I think the combo with Columbus, Centennial and Chinook makes a lot of sense to me. I think Columbus will get you close with Centennial for some citrus and Chinook for the pine.
I agree. You need a blend to get it remotely close. The pine is what sets it apart and what you never will quite nail without the actual hop.
I just kegged a DIPA with a blend of Columbus, Cenntenial, Simcoe and Amarillo hops. I have to say that this might be my all-time favorite blend of hops. 
That’s what I used to use in my IPA at YH. 
That’s what I used for the Belgian IPA I’m taking to NHC, along with some Chinook and homegrown Cascades.
Maybe (hopefully) things will change for you next year. Which hop is hard for you to get…Simcoe?
Can’t wait to try that one too Denny.
The four hops used in Pliny the Elder…