Free Hat IPA by Stoup Brewing: the hops, explained

What it'll taste like

Lime ×2
Black pepper
Citrus
Grapefruit
Herbal
Mango
Passionfruit
Peach
Pineapple
Spice
Tropical fruit

What the 2 hops smell like, most shared first — from the hop growers' and breeders' own notes, not the brewery's. 1 from USA, 1 from Australia.

The hop bill

Citra
USA · Dual purpose

Passionfruit, Mango, Grapefruit, Citrus, Tropical fruit, Lime

Bitterness High 11–14.3% α

Aroma oil 2.2–2.8 mL

Mostly myrcene 60%, humulene 12%

Grown 2025: 5,327 ac Washington · 1,525 ac Oregon · 729 ac Idaho
Vic Secret
Australia

Pineapple, Black pepper, Spice, Herbal, Lime

Bitterness Very high 14–22% α

In the order Stoup Brewing lists them: [Retired] Free Hat IPA ABV: 7.50 IBU: 75.00 SRM: 5.00 Categories: Hop Driven, IPA, Northwest Everybody loves getting a Free Hat just like everybody loves Citra and Vic Secret Hops! You guessed it, our Free Hat IPA is loaded with Citra and Vic Secret hops. It's full of passionfruit and pineapple aromas and flavors followed by a piney resin finish. You're going love it almost as much as you love .... From the brewery's page for this beer. Forms like Cryo and CO2 extract are the same variety processed differently.

Beers like this one · the closest hop bills on file

No Quitters Ex Novo Brewing · shares Citra, Vic Secret
Please Hold For The Next Available Representative Cloudburst Brewing · shares Citra, Vic Secret
Be Dazzled IPA Stoup Brewing · shares Citra, Vic Secret
Abort the Court IPA Cloudburst Brewing · shares Citra, Vic Secret
Reuben's Crush the Vote Reuben's Brews · shares Citra, Vic Secret

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New to hop talk? What these words mean

Bitterness (alpha acid): How much bite a hop gives when it's boiled. Under 5% is gentle, 13%+ is a bruiser. It's why a West Coast IPA snaps and a pilsner doesn't.
Aroma oil: The smelly part of the hop — where the citrus, pine and tropical fruit come from. More oil, more punch when it's added late or dry-hopped.
Myrcene, humulene…: The main oils. Lots of myrcene reads fruity and resinous; humulene and caryophyllene read woody, herbal, spicy.
Aroma / bittering / dual purpose: What brewers mostly use the hop for: smell, bite, or both.
Fresh (wet) hop: Hops straight from the field into the beer, same day, never dried. Only at harvest, late August into October.
Cryo, CGX, LupoMax, Incognito: The same hop, processed: concentrated powder or extract, for more aroma with less vegetal taste.

In Brooks’s glass

Brooks hasn’t had this one yet.