Brooks Groves

Centennial

Cascade with the contrast turned up β€” sharper citrus, more lemon-pith bitterness, a floral top note. Bitters clean enough to carry a whole beer on its own.

Dual purpose
Origin United States
Code CEN
Released 1990
Bred by USDA-ARS hop breeding program
Two or more independent sources
Smells like
Citrus, Grapefruit, Lemon, Floral, Pine
Bitterness
High (7.8–11.5% alpha)
In the glass
116 beers here Β· 12 fresh hop Β· Brooks has had 4
Usually paired with
Simcoe, Chinook, Citra
Swap it for
Cascade Β· compare them β†’

Brewing values

range on filetypicalbreeder or labmerchant

Alpha acid

7.8–11.5% typical 10.1

4 sources, spread of 3.7%
  • Hopsteiner9.5–11.5Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
  • BarthHaas7.8–11.5Range over the last 4 crop years.
  • Indie Hops9.5–11.5
  • Crosby Hop Farm7.8–11.5

Beta acid

3.3–4.5% typical 4.0

4 sources, spread of 1.2%
  • Hopsteiner3.5–4.5Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
  • BarthHaas3.3–4.5Range over the last 4 crop years.
  • Indie Hops3.5–4.5
  • Crosby Hop Farm3.3–4.5

Cohumulone

29–30% of alpha typical 29.5

2 sources, spread of 1% of alpha
  • Hopsteiner29–30Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
  • Indie Hops29–30

Total oil

0.8–2.5 mL/100g typical 1.9

4 sources, spread of 1.7 mL/100g
  • Hopsteiner0.8–2.3Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
  • BarthHaas1.6–2.5Range over the last 4 crop years.
  • Indie Hops1.5–2.3
  • Crosby Hop Farm1.6–2.5

Alpha to beta runs about 2.6:1, which is what governs how fast the bitterness fades in storage.

Oil composition

  • Myrcene51.5%
  • Other25.5%
  • Humulene13.4%
  • Caryophyllene6.9%
  • Linalool1.2%
  • Geraniol1%
  • Farnesene0.5%

Normalised to 100% so this hop can be compared like for like. The published components sum to 94.2% of total oil in the source data.

Where it's grown

In 2025: 2,122 acres in Washington, 417 acres in Oregon. That's 2,539 acres. No. 5 by acreage in Washington; No. 5 by acreage in Oregon.

Centennial: acres harvested by state, 2015–2025 Line chart of acres harvested in Washington, Oregon, Idaho. The same figures are in the table below. 0 2k 4k 6k 201520172019202120232025 Washington Oregon Idaho
Acres by year
YearWashingtonOregonIdaho
20153,770631withheld
20164,359723withheld
20174,375789255
20183,875698withheld
20193,031614withheld
20202,444489β€”
20211,978364β€”
20222,044380β€”
20232,103386β€”
20242,026422β€”
20252,122417β€”

Acres harvested, from the USDA NASS National Hop Report. Where America's hops grow β†’

Aroma Β· tap one for every hop and beer with that smell

How it gets used

Added at bittering, late boil, whirlpool, dry hop.

  • American IPA
  • West Coast IPA
  • Double IPA
  • American Pale Ale
  • American Amber Ale
  • American Stout
  • Barleywine

Concentrated lupulin formats: Cryo.

In the glass Β· 116 beers from 22 breweries

Brooks has had 4 of them Β· 3.75 average of 4

All 116 beers with Centennial β†’

Brewed alongside Β· in 112 beers that use Centennial with other hops

  1. Simcoe 4439%
  2. Chinook 4238%
  3. Citra 4036%
  4. Cascade 3834%
  5. Mosaic 2926%
  6. Columbus 2421%
  7. Amarillo 2321%
  8. Strata 109%

Counted from the hop lists of every beer in What's in the can: what Pacific Northwest brewers actually put next to Centennial.

What to swap it for

  • Cascade brewer-tested 93
    aroma 65 Β· oils 84 Β· chemistry 71
  • Simcoe brewer-tested 76
    aroma 38 Β· oils 88 Β· chemistry 73
  • Mosaic 73
    aroma 46 Β· oils 96 Β· chemistry 85
  • Idaho 7 68
    aroma 48 Β· oils 71 Β· chemistry 90
  • Citra brewer-tested 65
    aroma 23 Β· oils 89 Β· chemistry 82
  • HBC 522 63
    aroma 90 Β· oils β€” Β· chemistry 90 partial data

Scored on aroma overlap, oil composition and acid chemistry, then nudged up where a brewer has vouched for the swap by hand. An axis we haven't measured earns nothing, so a hop known only by its acid numbers caps out around 30 β€” the score is how much evidence there is for the swap, not just how close the numbers happen to be. Anything under 50 is a different beer, not a substitution.

Pedigree

Brewers Gold. Brewer's Gold crossed with a complex male line.

HopLove is an open dataset first and a website second. Every figure on this site is rolled up from cited observations in data/hops/, and the same build that made this page wrote ../../api/v1/hops.json β€” free, no key, no rate limit.

Built 2026-11-12T21:40:27.769Z from 232 cultivar records. Data under CC BY 4.0, code under MIT. Source and corrections on GitHub. Not affiliated with any hop breeder, farm or merchant; variety names are the marks of their owners.