Simcoe
Pine and passionfruit at the same time, over a dry resinous base. The West Coast IPA hop — high alpha, low cohumulone, so it bitters hard without scraping.
- Smells like
- Pine, Resinous, Passionfruit, Grapefruit, Apricot
- Bitterness
- Very high (10–16% alpha)
- In the glass
- 419 beers here · 24 fresh hop · Brooks has had 7
- Swap it for
- Citra · compare them →
Brewing values
Alpha acid
10–16% typical 13
2 sources, spread of 6%
- Yakima Chief Ranches12–14
- Crosby Hop Farm10–16
Beta acid
3.5–5.5% typical 4.5
2 sources, spread of 2%
- Yakima Chief Ranches4–5
- Crosby Hop Farm3.5–5.5
Cohumulone
15–20% of alpha typical 17.5
1 source, spread of 5% of alpha
- Yakima Chief Ranches15–20
Total oil
0.5–3 mL/100g typical 2.0
2 sources, spread of 2.5 mL/100g
- Yakima Chief Ranches2–2.5
- Crosby Hop Farm0.5–3
Alpha to beta runs about 2.9:1, which is what governs how fast the bitterness fades in storage.
Oil composition
- Myrcene59.1%
- Other17.5%
- Humulene14.8%
- Caryophyllene7.8%
- Linalool0.6%
- Farnesene0.2%
Normalised to 100% so this hop can be compared like for like. The published components sum to 97% of total oil in the source data.
Where it's grown
In 2025: 2,962 acres in Washington, 431 acres in Oregon, 97 acres in Idaho. That's 3,490 acres. No. 3 by acreage in Washington; No. 4 by acreage in Oregon; No. 7 by acreage in Idaho.
Acres by year
| Year | Washington | Oregon | Idaho |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,916 | 191 | 199 |
| 2016 | 3,769 | 330 | 232 |
| 2017 | 3,753 | 461 | 394 |
| 2018 | 3,103 | 436 | 449 |
| 2019 | 3,367 | 440 | 469 |
| 2020 | 3,214 | 474 | 425 |
| 2021 | 3,172 | 499 | 388 |
| 2022 | 3,494 | 527 | 441 |
| 2023 | 3,483 | 466 | 257 |
| 2024 | 2,873 | 447 | 97 |
| 2025 | 2,962 | 431 | 97 |
Acres harvested, from the USDA NASS National Hop Report. Where America's hops grow →
Aroma
How it gets used
Added at bittering, whirlpool, dry hop.
Concentrated lupulin formats: Cryo.
In the glass · 419 beers from 23 breweries
Brooks has had 7 of them · 3.82 average of 7
- Fresh Hop Double Crush Reuben's Brews · fresh hop · 4
- Similar Interests IPA Cloudburst Brewing · 4
- Vor Tai P.A. Fort George Brewery · 4
- Fresh Hop Topcutter IPA Bale Breaker Brewing · fresh hop · 3.75
- Fresh Hop Iowa IPA Double Mountain Brewery · 3.75
- Sound Barrier IPA Stoup Brewing · 3.75
- Radiance Single Hill Brewing · 3.5
- Green Rush Fresh Hop IPA Bale Breaker Brewing · fresh hop
- Fresh Hop Simcoe IPA Breakside Brewery · fresh hop
- The Hop Aquatic Cloudburst Brewing · fresh hop
- Water Baptism Cloudburst Brewing · fresh hop
- Yakima Freeze Cloudburst Brewing · fresh hop
Brewed alongside · in 387 beers that use Simcoe 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 Simcoe.
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. Pedigree not published by the breeder.
Notes on this record
Plant patent number removed pending verification on Google Patents; the one previously recorded here could not be confirmed against the register.
For brewers and data folks: this hop as JSON · the source file · where America's hops grow