I don't think I like Cascade hops

Agree with you both, I tend to find most of their beers to have a similar character. Metallic, and burnt.

 

While I tend to enjoy cascade forward beers, I love me the Citra, Chinnok, Amarillo, and many others. But, I really find Nelson and Mosaic offputting. So I guess we all find our "hop loves" and "hop loathes."

 

Any of the big three C hops need to be used carefully in my opinion. That's Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus.

For example, centennial is great as a bittering hop but complete shit (again IMO) as flavoring or aroma. Cascade is fine in small quantities if you want that grapefruit taste and Columbus is brilliant as an aroma hop. Use any of those three in a different way and I can instantly notice (that doesn't always mean I don't like it, though).

I homebrew and often only use one hop variety in a beer so I can learn how I like the flavors. In terms of flavoring additions: I generally don't like the C's but I love most hallertau, amarillo, fuggle, williamette, tettnang, and nelson sauvin.

 

Eert Dekoorc Edacsac / Cascade Crooked Tree

 

While not an IPA, Ale Asylum Hopalicious is a tasty pale ale featuring the cascade hop.

 

seems to me cascade hops are sort of in the middle bitter-wise, but I will bow before those with more "refined" palates

 

Pretty sure they're still the hop of choice. If I remember correctly it has the most acreage of any hop by miles.

 

Its everywhere and it generally influences my buying . I have just had so much of it over the years and IPAs rich in cascade are easily attainable in my neighborhood. So if I am at a bottle store and I see something that advertises its made with other hops I'll likely choose that over a cascade laden IPA( most of the time).

 

I apologize for not reading through here all of the way, but Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is by no means a "fair" beer. Whatever calculation of hops- Cascade or otherwise- SNPA delivers a high quality product that drinks well on a remarkably consistent level. By all measure SNPA has been a beautiful commercial anomaly and a standard for American brewing. That the Op "may" not like Cascade hops has nothing to do with the quality of Cascade driven hoppy beers!

 

Not lately:



http://usahops.org/userfiles/image/1392264516_2013 Stat Pack.pdf

 

Cascade is heading the way of east kent goldings and fuggles. It was a hell of a ride through the 80s and 90s -- but let's face it -- there is a whole new world out there....

 

I thought Columbus, Tomahawk and Zeus (CTZ) were all the same? Why are C & T separated from Z on this chart?

 

Theres no two IPAs alike. Both beers can be Cascade heavy but adding at different points during the brewing process. Adds different flavors, characters, etc. Different worlds.

 

This page seems to explain the reason:
http://beerlegends.com/columbus-hops

 

Yeah I agree, I love Two Hearted and most beers with Centennial hops but hated Founders Centennial. I would write off a hop right away, there are so many factors.

 

Here is a write up from 2013, it's short and simple, cascade being the meat of the story with a few others sprinkled in for flavor.

Top Hops: Cascade Ranks #1 Among Craft Brewers’ Favorite Varieties
By Andrew Kaczmarek

http://www.craftbeer.com/brewers_banter/top-hops-cascade-ranks-among-americas-most-popular-varieties

 

Here is a link from "Beer Legends" with a break down of the cascade hop. This is a really interesting page with a lot of relevant information including profile make-up, harvest info and beer list. It also has links to other hop varieties and their profiles. Well worth a quick read!

http://beerlegends.com/cascade-us-hops

 

Has Cascade peaked yet?

Cascade is the most used hop in Craft Brewing, then Centennial and Simcoe.

Acres 2010 2014
Cascade 1850 6651
Centennial 357 3389
Simcoe 237 1838

Willamette and other Alpha hops have declined.

Willamette 3186 1162
CTZ 8341 5790

These data are from the Nov/Dec 2014 New Brewer.

Edit - EKG and Fuggles? The British hop industry has become tiny, there are only about 2000+ acres planted in Britain. Many of the East Kent hop fields have been planted with houses and condos.