Strata herself is a strong contributor to beer, and her genetics are broadening the impact. Strata has a brother, who has a son, who has a very cool daughter! Audacia was conceived in the summer of 2015, advanced to small trial plots in 2020 by Indie Hops, then tested in pilot beers during 2022. Taking the next step of planting commercial acreage requires a hop that meets many criteria—the most challenging being amazing flavor and aroma in beer and that the amazing flavor and aroma are unique from varieties already available.
We took that big step of commercial acreage with Audacia because of the seductive lilac/lavender aroma the hop sticks into IPAs, both West Coast and hazy, as well as the sweet-tart berry flavors of huckleberry/gooseberry/currant, as well as lychee. This aroma/flavor profile works beautifully with a number of top IPA hops such as Citra, Strata, Simcoe, Amarillo and Chinook. Beware, though, Audacia is sneaky. Alluring yet coy “on the rub,” then surprisingly expressive in beer to catch your attention and bring you back for more.
Last spring at the Indianapolis Craft Brewers Conference, we had two Audacia IPAs at our beer station—a hazy by Fidens Brewing and a West Coast by Grains of Wrath, both called The Audacity of Hops. Each beer was built upon a simple malt bill the brewers chose to showcase the unique ability of Audacia to “punch above its weight” and make its presence known when paired with other well-established IPA hops. Both beers were remarkably well-received and featured hop bills with a ratio of 60 percent Audacia to 40 percent Citra and Amarillo, with Steve Parker (cofounder and head brewer of Fidens) noting that “the sweet berry on the nose along with the floral finish [of Audacia] worked really nice with Citra and Amarillo. The beer drinks very soft and has a berry, citrus, and orange marmalade candy vibe to it.”
It’s the enticing floral bouquet and berry medley components that we find so captivating in Audacia, and when asked his thoughts after brewing the West Coast version of The Audacity of Hops, Mike Hunsaker (owner and head brewer of Grains of Wrath) simply said that “[Audacia] to me translates as purple. Dark berries, hint of lilac flowers, and sweet citrus from the Citra and Amarillo.” This sensory experience in synesthesia is precisely why we chose to advance Audacia all the way to full commercialization, and it’s why we’re so excited to see more and more folks discover what this hop can do. But don’t just take our word for it. Fidens Brewing released the hazy version of The Audacity of Hops in their taproom on a Friday, and after a weekend with it on tap and in cans, Steve let us know that “the beer was a big hit with our customers and employees. We went through a lot this weekend. People were crushing it.”
Indie Hops cofounder Jim Solberg (left) and Grains of Wrath owner/head brewer Mike Hunsaker (right) with a bag of Audacia pellets.
And this isn’t the first time we’ve heard this kind of feedback on Audacia either. Back in 2024 for CBC Las Vegas, we teamed up with Odell Brewing and Lallemand to brew what we cheekily called a “cold XPA,” a 6.5 percent light-bodied hoppy pale fermented with NovaLager yeast and featuring a hop combo comprised of Audacia, Strata, and Meridian. The beer was a huge hit, and as Marni Wahlquist (head brewer at Odell Brewing, Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse) so eloquently put it, “Audacia is truly audacious with its unique aroma of floral and berries. On the rub, lavender, dark berries, and currant stand out. The aroma in the beer had notes of jasmine, dark berries, and currant. The flavor is jammy, and she plays very well with others.” Once again, we see specific mention of Audacia’s distinct floral and berry qualities that capture the drinker’s palate, and it’s those same qualities that often lead us to describe drinking Audacia-forward beers as evoking feelings of a midsummer picnic in the mid-latitudes.
So what is it about Audacia’s chemistry that gives the hop such a catchy combo of class and sass? A surface level evaluation of Audacia appears to show a moderate hop: alpha acids of 6–8 percent, total oil content of 1.1–1.5 ml/100 g, and a pleasing aroma of average intensity on the rub. However, a deeper dive reveals a truly special hop with a unique architecture not seen in most other varieties.
While most hops boast an oil composition comprised predominantly of myrcene (typically 50 percent or more of total oil, depending on the variety), Audacia has relatively low levels of myrcene (25–30 percent of total oil), leaving much more room for other essential oils to impart a complex array of flavors and aromatics in beer. From a sensory standpoint, Audacia delivers a distinct set of flavors, such as tangy lychee, pomegranate, huckleberry, and currant, and drives a floral bouquet of aromas reminiscent of lavender, lilac, and rose that carry through the entirety of the beer from the first sip to the last drop in the glass.
And while we typically don’t like to get stuck in the proverbial weeds of thiol compounds found in hops, Audacia’s pronounced tart and ripe wild berry flavors are evident both on the rub and in the final beer, but often not in the same proportions, and are usually more restrained on the rub. Rubbing Audacia samples can be a bit understated compared to what shows in the final beer, demonstrating that in Audacia, there are not only “survivables,” but also precursors and bound aroma compounds that are freed only through the magic of brewing and fermentation. Interestingly, every brewery’s Audacia beer that we’ve tried so far (no matter how bold the other hops brewed with it) shows this tendency, demonstrating that the release of these compounds in beer does not require a special yeast or technique (e.g., mash hopping).
Brewing with Audacia, even in combination with “the usual suspects” of IPA hops, can add something fresh and unique to your IPA portfolio.