Cascade

Originating from the USDA-ARA breeding program, Cascade is an aroma-type cultivar bred
in 1956 and released in 1972. It was developed by open pollination of a Fuggle seedling.
Cascade is the most popular variety in craft brewing and is known for having a unique floral,
spicy and citrus character with balanced bittering potential.

Cascade is considered by a lot of craft beer fans as the quintessential American hop. It was the first-ever hop to come out of the USDA hop breeding program. Plus, it is one of the most used hops in loads of west coast IPAs and American pale ales.

This versatile hop is one of the best things to come out of American brewing and is a firm favourite of many breweries around the world. Offering floral aromas and grapefruit, lychee and citrus, it helps brewers create hoppy explosions of beer on a daily basis.

Cascade has an interesting history. It was first created to help with the mildew problem that Cluster was having. At the time, Cluster made up 90% of the hops grown in America and the crop was being devasted by downy mildew. Something needed to be done as America was having to import a lot of hop varieties from Europe.

This would never do, beer costs were high, supplies were limited, and there wasn’t enough variety coming in to create excellent beers! Cascade was created by allowing a cross between Russian Serebrianker and English Fuggles to wind pollinate with an unknown male variety. This created a new hop variety that showed a lot of promise, with good resistance to downy mildew and similarities to a German aroma hop called Hallertauer Mittlefrueh.

This hop was being heavily imported at the time, so the fact that this new hop had a very similar aroma profile to it was excellent news for the brewers of America.

Getting American breweries to use Cascade was not easy, to begin with. The bigger breweries almost poked fun at the new hop at first, until Sierra Nevada helped popularise the hop in their classic West Coast Pale Ale.

Thankfully, American brewers finally started using Cascade to create some of the most excellent beers in the world. Cascade makes a genuinely delicious lager, ale and American pale ale.

We usually have stocks of both US Cascade and UK Cascade grown by us here at Brook House Farm. UK Cascade has a more subtle, complex flavour.

Additional information