Northern Brewer
A classic dual-purpose hop with woody, herbal, resinous bitterness.
What it tastes like
Northern Brewer is a long-established dual-purpose hop known for clean, firm bitterness and a distinctive woody, herbal and resinous character with a spicy edge. A parent or grandparent of many modern varieties, it remains a defining hop of California common (steam) beer, German lagers and many traditional ales.
Best in these styles
Beers showcasing Northern Brewer
Specific beer examples coming soon.
Substitutes & relatives
If you can't source Northern Brewer, these hops bring overlapping character.
Lineage & family
How Northern Brewer 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 41 descendants
Vista · Loral · Callista · Azacca · Endeavour · Sovereign · Tahoma · Boadicea · Triple Pearl · Pilot · Pilgrim · Glacier · Perle4N · Phoenix · First Gold · Pioneer · Tradition · Toyomidori · Super Pride · Admiral · Hallertauer Gold · Spalter Select · Galaxy? · Herald · Orion · Yeoman · Wye Viking · Wye Saxon · Perle · Zenith · Omega · Challenger · Target · Cicero · Vojvodina · Bobek · Hueller · Northdown · dm-tolerant male2 · Bor · Aurora
One of the most influential hops in the family tree — #4 by number of descendants (78).
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
Originally bred in England in 1934, Northern Brewer is a cross between Canterbury Golding and a male seedling of Brewer's Gold. Once a mainstay English bittering hop, it is now grown primarily in Germany's Hallertau region and is a parent of many later varieties.
Sources
So you can see nothing here is made up — the published specifications on this page are traceable to grower / breeder data: