Willamette
Soft, earthy and mildly floral with a faint fruit note. The quiet American Fuggle — it fills out a malt-forward beer without asking for attention.
- Smells like
- Earthy, Floral, Herbal, Woody, Spice
- Bitterness
- Moderate (3.8–8% alpha)
- In the glass
- 8 beers here · 1 fresh hop
- Swap it for
- Whitbread Golding Variety · compare them →
Brewing values
Alpha acid
3.8–8% typical 5.5
5 sources, spread of 4.2%
- USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service5.2–5.2Crop-year average across Oregon acreage.
- Hopsteiner4.5–7Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
- BarthHaas3.8–6.5Range over the last 4 crop years.
- Indie Hops5–8
- Crosby Hop Farm3.8–6.5
Beta acid
3–5% typical 3.7
4 sources, spread of 2%
- Hopsteiner3–4Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
- BarthHaas3–4.5Range over the last 4 crop years.
- Indie Hops3–5
- Crosby Hop Farm3–4.5
Cohumulone
29–35% of alpha typical 32.3
2 sources, spread of 6% of alpha
- Hopsteiner30–35Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
- Indie Hops29–35
Total oil
0.5–1.6 mL/100g typical 1.1
3 sources, spread of 1.1 mL/100g
- Hopsteiner1–1.5Data sheet last changed 2020-01-09.
- Indie Hops0.8–1.2
- Crosby Hop Farm0.5–1.6
Alpha to beta runs about 1.5:1, which is what governs how fast the bitterness fades in storage.
Oil composition
- Myrcene32.9%
- Humulene25.5%
- Other24.6%
- Caryophyllene9.7%
- Farnesene6.4%
- Linalool0.6%
- Geraniol0.2%
Normalised to 100% so this hop can be compared like for like. The published components sum to 101.5% of total oil in the source data.
Where it's grown
In 2025: 199 acres in Washington, 227 acres in Oregon, 158 acres in Idaho. That's 584 acres. No. 7 by acreage in Oregon; No. 6 by acreage in Idaho.
Acres by year
| Year | Washington | Oregon | Idaho |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 698 | 661 | withheld |
| 2016 | 728 | 833 | withheld |
| 2017 | 571 | 892 | 128 |
| 2018 | 376 | 913 | withheld |
| 2019 | 270 | 619 | 170 |
| 2020 | 203 | 605 | withheld |
| 2021 | 132 | 446 | 389 |
| 2022 | 124 | 471 | 459 |
| 2023 | 199 | 439 | 459 |
| 2024 | 173 | 266 | 158 |
| 2025 | 199 | 227 | 158 |
Acres harvested, from the USDA NASS National Hop Report. Where America's hops grow →
Aroma
How it gets used
Added at late boil, whirlpool, dry hop.
No concentrated lupulin format has been produced for this variety.
In the glass · 8 beers from 5 breweries
- Fresh Hop Kellerbier pFriem Family Brewers · fresh hop
- ESB Chuckanut Brewery
- Bleed American Cloudburst Brewing
- Premiumization IPA Cloudburst Brewing
- That’s So Metaverse IPA Cloudburst Brewing
- Liquid Sweater Ex Novo Brewing
- Fresh Hop Pale Ale 2014 Stoup Brewing
- Strata Fresh Hop Fiend Stoup Brewing
Brewed alongside · in 7 beers that use Willamette 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 Willamette.
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
Fuggle. A triploid Fuggle seedling selected in Oregon.
For brewers and data folks: this hop as JSON · the source file · where America's hops grow