Zappa
Passion fruit, mint and mango with white pepper and spice, per CLS Farms. A 100% neomexicanus hop from the New Mexico mountains, grown in the Pacific Northwest, and it tastes like nothing bred from European stock.
- Smells like
- Passionfruit, Mint, Mango, Black pepper, Spice
- Bitterness
- Moderate (6–8% alpha)
- In the glass
- 9 beers here
- Swap it for
- Meridian · compare them →
Brewing values
Alpha acid
6–8% typical 7
3 sources, spread of 2%
- Charles Faram6–8
- CLS Farms6–82022 fact sheet; the oil figures are single analyses, not ranges.
- Crosby Hop Farm6–8
Beta acid
8–9% typical 8.5
3 sources, spread of 1%
- Charles Faram8–9
- CLS Farms8–92022 fact sheet; the oil figures are single analyses, not ranges.
- Crosby Hop Farm8–9
Cohumulone
40–45% of alpha typical 42.5
1 source, spread of 5% of alpha
- Charles Faram40–45
Total oil
1.8–2.5 mL/100g typical 2.1
2 sources, spread of 0.7 mL/100g
- CLS Farms1.8–2.52022 fact sheet; the oil figures are single analyses, not ranges.
- Crosby Hop Farm1.8–2.5
Alpha to beta runs about 0.8:1, which is what governs how fast the bitterness fades in storage.
Oil composition
- Myrcene81.3%
- Caryophyllene10.8%
- Humulene6.1%
- Linalool1%
- Geraniol0.8%
- Farnesene0%
Normalised to 100% so this hop can be compared like for like. The published components sum to 79.3% of total oil in the source data.
Where it's grown
Not in the 2025 survey. Last reported in 2024.
Acres by year
| Year | Washington |
|---|---|
| 2015 | — |
| 2016 | — |
| 2017 | — |
| 2018 | — |
| 2019 | — |
| 2020 | — |
| 2021 | — |
| 2022 | 69 |
| 2023 | withheld |
| 2024 | withheld |
| 2025 | — |
Acres harvested, from the USDA NASS National Hop Report. Where America's hops grow →
Aroma
In the glass · 9 beers from 6 breweries
- Bad Idea, Right? Cloudburst Brewing
- Outside the Box IPA Cloudburst Brewing
- Thanks a Bot IPA Cloudburst Brewing
- Zappa Dappa Do IPA Cloudburst Brewing
- Consequential Sequin Potential Ex Novo Brewing
- Zappa IPA pFriem Family Brewers
- Zappa Crush Reuben's Brews
- Energy Cone Single Hill Brewing
- Zappa IPA Stoup Brewing
Brewed alongside · in 9 beers that use Zappa 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 Zappa.
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. A native North American Humulus lupulus var. neomexicanus, recovered from the wild in New Mexico.
Notes on this record
Purpose aroma: CLS Farms calls it an aroma hop.
For brewers and data folks: this hop as JSON · the source file · where America's hops grow