FreshieCascade
The hop that started the American craft revolution.
What it tastes like
Cascade is the hop that defined American craft beer in the 1980s. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the beer that built modern craft, is essentially a vehicle for Cascade. Floral, citrusy, grapefruit-forward — accessible without being aggressive. If a beer says 'classic American pale ale,' Cascade is what it tastes like.
Best in these styles
Beers showcasing Cascade
- Pale AleSierra Nevada
- Liberty AleAnchor
- Mirror Pond Pale AleDeschutes
Substitutes & relatives
If you can't source Cascade, these hops bring overlapping character.
Lineage & family
How Cascade connects to the rest of the hop family — its parents, and the varieties it spawned. Trace the full pedigree in the Hop Lineage explorer →
All 10 descendants
Cashmere · Huell Melon · Hallertau Blanc · Mandarina Bavaria · Endeavour · Sterling · Santiam · Crystal · Lemon Drop · Delta
One of the most influential hops in the family tree — #13 by number of descendants (23).
Blood relatives
Genetically closest in the pedigree (may taste different):
Pedigree data adapted from the Rohwer (2021) hop family tree (CC0 1.0). Compilation, analysis & visualisation © 2026 Veryation · Freshie™.
For brewers — technical profile
Oil composition
History
Developed at the USDA breeding program at Oregon State University, released 1972. Cascade was the first major commercial US aroma hop and the foundation for everything that followed. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (1980) brought it to a generation of American drinkers and effectively launched the craft revival.
Explore more hops
Flavor twins across Freshie
Drinks and foods across Freshie that share Cascade’s flavor fingerprint — matched on shared flavor axes via the Freshie Taste Graph.