If I could only have 2, they would be Magnum, EKG, Cascade, Centennial, Willamette, Saaz, Simcoe, and Amarillo.
If you’re looking for versatility… Centennial is the ticket. I rarely leave it out if an IPA. I also saw a list a couple years ago and cents were the most widely used hop in commercial IPAs. As far as the other or goes, start with Simcoe, but you can’t go wrong with chinook or Columbus as IPA bittering hops. Amarillo, citra, galaxy, mosaic, cascade… All good fir ipas.
I find it more of a bargain to buy pounds to half pounds. But be we warned, if you start buying in bulk, prepare to have your freezer full if hops within a year lol
I agree, for American IPAs Centennial is the the ticket. To my tastes, Centennial and Columbus blend with the Centennial being the dominant hop at 75:25 is a great hop combo to build around and fine for a 2 hop beer. But also fun to build around (Amarillo, Simcoe, etc.)
+1 to Centennial as the most versatile American hop. It’s the hop I build around for IPA pretty much every time. Blends well with pretty much anything. Great with Cascade in APA too.
I agree 100%
I love all those, too. Personally my favorite hop is Hallertauer and I use it in dang near all my beers especially since I grow my own so I always have some available. But the OP was asking about APA and IPA so that’s why I didn’t mention it before. Columbus is awesome too.
Which is probably why I rarely use Cents in an IPA. I can buy a dozen commercial IPAs that taste like that at any of my local bottle shops. Good hop though. It compliments EKGs nicely at low levels in British Pale Ales, and is really nice with Motueka to enhance the citrus note.
- 1 - when I told the wife I needed a chest freezer for brewing she thought it was for storing hops, not as a fermentation chamber.
Is OP just looking for two hops to build hoppy beers around or two hops to be the only hops in several beers?
If one is brewing a lot of IPA’s then buying hops by the pound is a necessity.
Simcoe and either Amarillo, Columbus or Cascade for IPAs/PAs.
Looking to just stock up one two versatile hops. Ones that can be used often in IPAs and PAs. So perhaps yes to both of your questions!
To say I dislike Citra would not be strong enough. Maybe a small amount in combo with other hops to cover up it’s fruitiness.
yeah I’m with you on that. i do use it on occasion, but its one of 5-6 in a mix. my god can it dominate though.
seems a LOT of the new hops are tropical fruity. i personally like good ole dank, citrus, pine, resin, etc. a little of the former is okay, but not predominant.
Totally agree. Tropical fruity hops seem to be the trendy thing these days. I’m hearing more and more people say that they’re over them.
I was thinking that this question should have been asked in the form of a poll… So I went through and recorded what people said. If they mentioned more than 2 hops, I took the first two. Here are the results:
Cascade 7
Centennial 5
Magnum 4
Columbus 4
Amarillo 4
EKG 2
Simcoe 2
Those that received 1 vote: Fuggles, Nelson Sauvin, Apollo, Willamette, Citra, Galena, Mosaic.
I think it would be interesting to do distinct voting for a bittering hop and then a flavor/aroma hop. Hmmm.
Me included. If I use the fruity hops at all, it’s in a blend of 3 or 4 other hops. But yeah, Citra will flat take over if you let it.
I’m late to the party here but for me it’s gonna be Centennial and Amarillo.
I always use Magnum as my bittering hop but I think you are really asking about two flavour hops so you can FWH with Centennial and then finish it up with another late charge of Centennial and some Amarillo
This would be a difficult decision. If I had to choose two I’d probably throw a couple of darts at the list below. It really depends on the style of beer that I want to make at a given moment.
American Ales:
Columbus
Centennial
Citra
Simcoe
Amarillo
Mosaic
Continental Lagers:
Hallertau
Tettnang
Saaz
Brittish Ales:
EKG
Fuggles
Belgian Ales:
Hallertau
Saaz
If you’re looking for versatility, then Sterling gets my top vote. It works for continental styles quite well, as its noble parentage really shines through as a bittering hop and at low amounts as a late hop. But if you start to push it to APA/IPA amounts you will pick up citrus notes in the vein of a west coast hop.
I’d stick with Apollo as my second choice for bittering and late hops in hoppy beers. But I will admit that this is partially because I want my own beers to stand out from commercial APAs and IPAs.
Thank you, that was nice of you!