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.
- Bitterness
- Moderate (3.8–8% alpha)
- In the glass
- 11 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 · tap one for every hop and beer with that smell
How it gets used
Added at late boil, whirlpool, dry hop.
No concentrated lupulin format has been produced for this variety.
In the glass · 11 beers from 6 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
- Bad Santa Pelican Brewing
- The Brewed Abides Pelican Brewing
- Tsunami Pelican Brewing
- Fresh Hop Pale Ale 2014 Stoup Brewing
- Strata Fresh Hop Fiend Stoup Brewing
Brewed alongside · in 10 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