The breeding and development of new hops is rigorous, scientific, and certainly not free of commercial interests. But it’s also, at its best, a story of joyful discovery and the vastness of sensory possibility.
John Segal felt that expansiveness unfurl before him while rubbing cones in his Grandview, Washington, hop nursery five years ago. Segal, a third-generation hop farmer, rubs hundreds of plants in the nursery every year. The vast majority will never reach a brewery—they’re cardboardy, they’re cheesy, or they’re empty and unexciting.
But one day in 2021, one certain plant lit up his olfactory system like a pinball machine.
“I rubbed the hop, and it was like I just peeled a navel orange on my hands,” Segal says. “Then it morphed into tangerine. It was just mind-boggling.”
That single plant would come to be known as Tangier, an open-pollination variety now available through suppliers such as Hollingberry & Son, Charles Faram, the Hop Guild in New York, and Yakima Valley Hops. Three years ago, Russian River cofounder and brewer Vinnie Cilurzo brewed a small batch with the yet-unnamed hop—and he soon called Segal to tell him it was the highest-rated pilot beer the brewery had ever tapped.
Beyond its sensory characteristics, Tangier is notable for the speed at which it came to market. What began as a single plant became a half-acre plot in 2023 and expanded to 125 acres this year. Segal has sold all of it.
There was a time, well within many current brewers’ memories, when new hop releases were just a trickle. One new variety might hit the market every four or five years, the result of research by the United States Department of Agriculture, the Hop Breeding Company (HBC), or a university such as Oregon State. Today, those releases form a relatively steady stream, with private companies joining these other entities to release new types of prismatic aroma hops every year.
Combine that with more readily available hops from outside the United States, and where brewers were once coloring with an eight-pack of crayons, they now have access to a 96-color box.
Today’s hop companies know what brewers want from their aroma hops: jaw-dropping unicorn aromas that evoke anything from tropical fruits to cotton candy. Given that understanding, their priority has shifted to delivering those aromas through high-yield, low-input plants. Combined with a general oversupply of hops, it puts a premium on hops that make good business sense as well as great beer.
“The industry knows what brewers and drinkers want—fruity, juicy—and now it’s who can hit that known target the most efficiently,” says Eric Sannerud, a former hop farmer who now runs Minnesota-based Sannerud Hop Consulting.
The summer months, after Southern Hemisphere harvests and before their Northern counterparts, offer a prime opportunity to take stock of the global landscape. Here’s a primer on the new and promising varieties that are helping brewers push the limits—and helping farmers make the most of every acre.
Ramosa
As a nod to longtime hop breeder Martin Ramos—who also developed Tangier—the variety formerly known as D55 got its official name in early 2026.
Early fans of this Segal Ranch–bred variety include Alex Cordeiro, production manager at Tree House in Charlton, Massachusetts; he notes its aroma of pineapple juice, mango, and fresh melon. Attendees at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia also had the chance to sample a single-hop Ramosa beer, brewed by San Diego’s Stone and pouring at the Hop Growers of America booth.
There are only two acres of Ramosa in the ground now, but Segal Ranch plans to expand that, given early interest from breweries that include Fifth Hammer and Russian River. Because the hop can be harvested as late as October, and because it’s yielded roughly 2,400 pounds per acre, it also makes a strong business case for Segal Ranch.
While there won’t enough Ramosa to go around to all interested brewers this year, it’s a variety to watch.
Dolcita
Rikki Welz, associate sensory scientist at hop company John I. Haas in Yakima, Washington, doesn’t like being asked to choose a favorite hop. But… she really likes Dolcita.
Named in 2025 and formerly known as HBC 1019, this diminutive cone is the rare hop whose aroma translates seamlessly from fresh rub to the pint glass—a factor in its relatively speedy advance from trials to commercialization.
“Everything you smell in Dolcita, you taste in the beer,” Welz says.
Welz’s analysis of feedback from brewers and sensory panels emphasizes a candied tropical note—less akin to heady, overripe mango and more like “all of the Hi-Chew candies conglomerated together.”
A light application of Dolcita in the whirlpool tends to emphasize its citrus notes of orange juice and key lime, while a heavier application in the dry hop brings forward more of its confectionary qualities. In conjunction with other hops, it’s delicate enough for pilsners, including one released last summer by Chicago’s Revolution called Office Hours; it was hopped with Dolcita, Galaxy, and Lupomax Krush.
Krush
Another buzzed-about HBC release, the hop long known as HBC 586 earned its name in 2024.
Whereas Dolcita leans toward the candied side of tropical fruit, Krush is redolent of guava, musky mango, and ripe berries, as well as the potential for cannabis resin. “Krush is what you’d get if you made a fruit salad for people that you actually like,” Welz says.
Agronomic conditions affect Krush’s expression, Welz says, making it imperative that brewers really smell their hops before applying them. The longer Krush remains on the bine, the more likely it appears to lean into “the resin, peppery, diesel” end of the spectrum compared to earlier-pick Krush, which expresses in a sweeter-fruitier vein.
It’s well suited to hazy IPAs, particularly in combination with Citra and Mosaic; some brewers note its similarities to Galaxy, the popular Australian variety.
Tangier
The hop that has stopped farmers and brewers in their tracks was affectionately nicknamed “Tanjee” during its early rubbings, a naming convention that proved to have sticking power.
As I mentioned above, it gained notoriety primarily thanks to Cilurzo’s advocacy; Russian River ordered thousands of pounds of the 2024 crop from Segal Ranch, planning to add it to flagship IPAs including Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder. But it’s equally effective in lager styles such as the brewery’s 110 West Coast Pils, where it syncs up with New Zealand–grown Nectaron and NZH-106.
WIth Russian River on board, other brewers have come knocking, and Segal Ranch this year dug 300,000 Tangier rhizomes to—hopefully—meet demand. Given the hype, though, John Segal is cautious about expanding in a way that could threaten quality: “We think Tangier could be much bigger than it is right now, but we’re taking baby steps.”
Zumo
While most aroma hops are zigging within the tropical-orange realm, Segal Ranch–grown Zumo is zagging somewhere else.
Relatively low in alpha acids (5.5–6.5 percent), this hop offers a bombastic dose of lime that can brighten up Mexican-style lagers as well as IPAs, thanks to secondary notes of orange and lemon.
Segal compares its relatively small but dedicated fan base to that of Anchovy hops: “It’s not huge, but it has a following,” he says. “I don’t mind berry and tropical notes, but it’s nice to have a hop that maybe can just refresh the palate a little.”
In the two to three years since it’s been commercially available, brewers have applied Zumo in varied ways. New York–based Other Half has used it in a Mexican-style lager, while Chicago’s Hop Butcher for the World paired it with Simcoe and Riwaka in a lean XPA called Neon Canopy, at 5 percent ABV. With roughly 10 acres of Zumo in the ground this year, Segal is placing modest bets on future demand.
Luna
Formerly known as HPA-033, Luna is the latest hop from Hop Products Australia’s breeding group and a poster child for where this program is heading.
Chris Swersey, international business development manager for HPA, calls Luna “a new beginning” for Australian hops, citing its climate resilience and cost effectiveness for brewers. U.S. breweries have had limited access to the hop for the past several years, but HPA has scaled up production each of the past two harvests and plans to double acreage again in 2027 and 2028.
Unlike Dolcita’s seamless translation from bine to glass, Luna morphs during the brewing process. It has a high thiol potential—which expresses in multidimensional ways—and elevated polyphenol content, potentially contributing a richer texture to a beer. Welz likens Luna to a classic C-hop but with Galaxy-like intensity.
“If you’re lucky, you can get a Centennial that has some tropical fruit to it,” she says. “But Luna already starts off with that before going into woody-green, mango, and berry.”
Swersey says he’s been particularly intrigued by how specialty malts seem to shift the way that Luna expresses; he cites a red IPA from Mountain Monk in Mount Beauty, Australia. In that beer, he says, Luna took on a distinct marmalade character.
Thora
It might be inaccurate to call Thora a new hop when it’s been in the works for about a decade.
Daniel Sharp is chief product officer for Great Frontier Holdings—now the parent company of Oregon’s Ninkasi and Ecliptic brands—and he was formerly co-chair of the Hop Quality Group’s technical committee. He says he recalls Thora standing out significantly in brewers’ trials even before COVID; that triggered an analysis that found Thora’s thiol potential to be two to four times that of other commercial hops. His own use of it in a single-hop IPA at Ninkasi confirmed the early enthusiasm.
“What stood out for us was high, mellow passion fruit—a mix of Nelson Sauvin meets Citra, but with the volume really turned up,” Sharp says. “It had all the grapefruit and sauvignon blanc, but with a lot of tropical, too, pushing citrus.”
While effective as a single hop, Thora most impresses Sharp when it’s paired with hops that are high in the compounds geraniol (floral) and linalool (floral-orange). Given Thora’s high levels of the thiols 3SH (passion fruit, grapefruit) and 4MSP (black currant), he likes it as a background note combined with Centennial, Eureka, Bravo, and even Nugget; he also thinks it plays well with high-linalool Crystal hops.
In terms of process: At Ninkasi, Sharp says, Thora has really played well in traditional dry hopping, after brewers lay the hot-side groundwork using hops—such as Centennial and Chinook—with high levels of survivable compounds.
Elani
Named in 2023, this relatively quiet release from Yakima Quality Hops was formerly known as YQH-1320.
YQH owner Tim Sattler says that after he discovered the bines growing wild in Idaho’s St. Joe River Valley in 2015, he had them analyzed to confirm their genetic uniqueness. A decade later, we have greater understanding of its chemical makeup: Elani has low to moderate alpha acids (3 to 8 percent), with 1 to 3 percent (ml/100 g) total oils; those are dominated by myrcene (45 to 60 percent) and humulene (12 to 17 percent).
It hits the popular berry-tropical-citrus trifecta, with Wicked Weed brewmaster Joe Pawelek describing its character as “mango, blueberry, citrus, and cantaloupe [with] undertones of dank resin, papaya, and juicy fruit.”
In a 2023 press release, Pawelek says Wicked Weed’s Elani IPA was the best single-hopped beer the brewery had ever produced. In Boise, Idaho, Sockeye Brewing also tapped it for a single-hop pale ale characterized by “green gooseberry, starfruit, and crushed white peach.”
Three-Cone
Segal warns that it might be too early to talk about Three-Cone. This variety, propagated from just half a plant two years ago, is now growing on just half an acre. But it’s already found its way into pilot batches at Russian River and Sierra Nevada.
It’s a remarkable trajectory for a hop that barely made it: When brewers from Russian River and Sierra Nevada first rubbed it, the plant was so small that the entirety of its “harvest” fit into a one-gallon baggie. Each person in the room that day received precisely three cones the size of a thumbnail—hence its name.
When crushed, the tiny cones filled the room with a distinctly New Zealand–like scent of white-grape jam. Segal is up-front that he’s not sure this hop will make it to wider availability… but he says the name was too good not to trademark anyway.
Huell Classic
“Solid in the field, classic in the glass” is how BarthHaas describes this new German-grown varietal bred by Bavaria’s Hop Research Center.
Debuting in late 2025, Classic owes its genetic lineage to Hallertauer and Saaz-related hops. It displays subtle spice and citrus akin to Hersbrucker or Mittelfrüh, with alpha acids ranging from about 5 to 8 percent. It also promises to be sturdier on the bine than its Noble forebears, with strong resistance to powdery mildew, good tolerance to downy mildew, and a greater ability to withstand temperature and climate fluctuations.
For brewers who want a dual-purpose, Noble-esque hop—and who find U.S.-grown versions a bit too high in alpha or fruit character—Huell Classic might be a promising choice. BarthHaas is currently growing five hectares of this variety, so availability is limited, but the company plans to double plantings next year.
Celeste
The hop formerly known as WCHB-102 (also as 2B) officially received its new name in April. Beyond its sensory characteristics, this hop has a notable agronomic journey: West Coast Hop Breeding developed it to be grown organically in Oregon’s challenging climate, requiring lower inputs than other types of hops. Potentially, it doesn’t require the use of pesticides at all.
Sannerud, who is helping to market Celeste, says it’s gotten great yields despite low inputs and hardly any pesticide applications. On rubbing the hop, he describes aromas of passion fruit, honeydew, and pine. He says Celeste has impressed him when paired with Cascade, Citra, Krush, and Motueka.
More Australians: HPA-050, HPA-065, and HPA-4029
Part of HPA’s Next in Bine series, this higher-alpha trio is currently being evaluated by growers to assess yield and performance at a larger scale.
Swersey says HPA-050 appears very versatile, with oils of 2.7 ml/100g and alpha acids around 11 percent. Early brewing trials indicate that a whirlpool addition may drive grapefruit flavors, while dry hopping pushes sweet lime and apricot flavors.
Early feedback on HPA-065 is that it leans spicy when applied in the whirlpool, while dry hopping favors ginger, lime, and pineapple. It packs oils of 3.9 ml/100g and alphas around 17 percent.
HPA-4029, meanwhile, is a layering hop that can range from herbal (whirlpool) to ester-forward fruit punch (dry hop), with oils of 3.2 ml/100g and alphas around 15 percent.
More from New Zealand: NZ02, NZ17, and NZ04
Three new varietals are on the horizon from Freestyle Hops’ Hapi Research breeding program, a joint venture with Wellington brewery Garage Project.
Freestyle managing director Dave Dunbar says the company is “rapidly expanding volume” of all three, with acreages expanding by 150 to 300 percent. NZ02—set to debut in beers from Garage Project, Hill Farmstead, Other Half, Track, DEYA, and Tree House over the next six months—is said to display punchy passion fruit and sweet-orange top notes, with a complex citrus undertone that works in single-hop beers as well as in blends.
NZ17 has shown early promise on both the hot and cold sides, with a pink-grapefruit intensity plus other tropical, floral, and resinous notes in support. Cloudburst’s Steve Luke says he recalls being blown away after rubbing it two years ago, describing the aroma as “lime popsicle meets passion-fruit sorbet.”
NZ04 also is set to appear in some commercial beers from Garage Project and others this year. Dunbar touts its rich, complex tropical character, consistently rated highly by sensory panels when evaluating it in cold-side trials.
Hop Compounds to Know
Terpenes
caryophyllene » woody
citronellol » citrusy, fruity
farnesene » floral
geraniol » floral, rose, geranium
humulene » woody, piney
limonene » citrusy, orange
linalool » floral, orange
myrcene » green, resinous, piney
nerol » rose, citrusy
pinene » spicy, piney
Four Key Thiols
3S4MP (aka 3M4MP) » rhubarb, grapefruit, stone fruit
3SHA (aka 3MHA) » muscat, passion fruit
3SH (aka 3MH) » guava, tropical
4MSP (aka 4MMP) » black currant, ribes
For much more about these hop compounds, check out:
The Complex Case of Thiols
Hop Oils & Aroma: Uncharted Waters
Wildcatting for Hop Oil: Decoding the Aroma Matrix
Balanced Aroma: Adjusting the Thiol Dial
And Yes, New Bittering Hops!
Attendees at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia might not have known it, but many of the beers from Haas and Yakima Chief Hops were bittered with an experimental hop labeled as HBC 1325. While it may not excite the crowd in the way a new aroma hop does, HBC 1325 shows early promise in reducing the use of pesticide and water compared to existing bittering varieties—potentially good news for growers as well as the environment.