El Dorado
BarthHaas describes it as watermelon, pear, apricot, tangerine, menthol.
- Smells like
- Melon, Pear, Apricot, Tangerine, Mint
- Bitterness
- Very high (12–17% alpha)
- In the glass
- 99 beers here · 8 fresh hop
- Swap it for
- Idaho 7 · compare them →
Brewing values
Alpha acid
12–17% typical 14.2
3 sources, spread of 5%
- Hopsteiner13–17Data sheet last changed 2023-01-09.
- BarthHaas12–14.4Range over the last 4 crop years.
- Crosby Hop Farm13–16
Beta acid
4.8–8% typical 6.5
3 sources, and they disagree, spread of 3.2%
- Hopsteiner7–8Data sheet last changed 2023-01-09.
- BarthHaas4.8–6.2Range over the last 4 crop years.
- Crosby Hop Farm5.5–7.5
Cohumulone
28–33% of alpha typical 30.5
1 source, spread of 5% of alpha
- Hopsteiner28–33Data sheet last changed 2023-01-09.
Total oil
1.5–3.3 mL/100g typical 2.5
3 sources, spread of 1.8 mL/100g
- Hopsteiner2.5–3.3Data sheet last changed 2023-01-09.
- BarthHaas1.8–2.8Range over the last 4 crop years.
- Crosby Hop Farm1.5–3
Alpha to beta runs about 2.2:1, which is what governs how fast the bitterness fades in storage.
Oil composition
- Myrcene70.2%
- Humulene16.1%
- Caryophyllene12.2%
- Linalool0.7%
- Farnesene0.6%
- Geraniol0.3%
Normalised to 100% so this hop can be compared like for like. The published components sum to 64.5% of total oil in the source data.
Where it's grown
In 2025: 434 acres in Washington, withheld in Idaho (NASS withholds a figure when it would identify a single farm). That's at least 434 acres.
Acres by year
| Year | Washington | Idaho |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 243 | 205 |
| 2016 | 396 | 227 |
| 2017 | 463 | 219 |
| 2018 | 418 | 120 |
| 2019 | 641 | 352 |
| 2020 | 1,058 | 526 |
| 2021 | 1,113 | 621 |
| 2022 | 861 | 304 |
| 2023 | 621 | 242 |
| 2024 | 565 | withheld |
| 2025 | 434 | withheld |
Acres harvested, from the USDA NASS National Hop Report. Where America's hops grow →
Aroma
In the glass · 99 beers from 17 breweries
- Fix In Post Fast Fashion · fresh hop
- Landscape Drinkers Fast Fashion · fresh hop
- (ish) Fresh Hop El Dorado Hazy IPA Ladd & Lass Brewing · fresh hop
- Chinook/El Dorado Fresh Hop Fiend IPA - Roy Farms and CLS Farms Stoup Brewing · fresh hop
- Citra/El Dorado Fresh Hop Stoup Brewing · fresh hop
- El Dorado Fresh Hop 2020 Stoup Brewing · fresh hop
- El Dorado Fresh Hop Fiend (2023 - CLS Farms) Stoup Brewing · fresh hop
- El Dorado Fresh Hopped Italian Pilsner Stoup Brewing · fresh hop
- Cosmic Dreams Aslan Brewing
- Grizz Rizz Aslan Brewing
- Hook's Stash Aslan Brewing
- Jazz Juice Aslan Brewing
Brewed alongside · in 90 beers that use El Dorado with other hops
Counted from the hop lists of every beer in What's in the can: what Pacific Northwest brewers actually put next to El Dorado.
What to swap it for
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 — 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
Parentage unrecorded.
Notes on this record
purpose defaulted to dual, unconfirmed -- was not researched individually for this bulk scaffold pass. Correct before publishing.
For brewers and data folks: this hop as JSON · the source file · where America's hops grow