Eroica Hops

Eroica stands as a historic, high-alpha American pioneer that helped lay the foundational bittering groundwork for the early craft brewing movement. Developed through a collaborative effort between the Idaho and Oregon Agricultural Experiment Stations alongside the United States Department of Agriculture, this classic cultivar (cataloged as USDA 21183) originated from an open-pollinated seedling selection of the historic Brewer’s Gold in 1968 and was commercially released in 1982. Characterized by extreme field vigor, exceptionally high yields, and a very late ripening maturity, Eroica was explicitly engineered to provide commercial brewhouses with a high-efficiency bittering asset. While its large-scale commercial acreage has all but disappeared over the decades—having been largely replaced by its direct, more agriculturally favored genetic sister, [Galena}, Eroica remains a legendary heritage variety highly prized by craft historians and homebrewers seeking authentic, old-school American bittering dynamics.

The profile of Eroicais an unapologetically pungent, intense, and rustic sensory experience that perfectly captures the bold, unrefined character of early West Coast brewing. It leads with a sharp, forward wave of dark orchard and bramble fruits, characterized by dense notes of blackcurrant, wild blackberries, and overripe purple plums. Underneath this heavy fruit essence lies a deep, grounding foundation of damp cedar wood, sticky pine resin/[tag], and a distinct, [tag]dank earthiness reminiscent of a Pacific Northwest forest floor. Because its expansive essential oil footprint features an incredibly high myrcene fraction juxtaposed against almost zero humulene, its overall aromatic delivery is loud, sharp, and aggressively expressive, ensuring it cuts cleanly through heavy, sweet specialty malts without ever fading into the background.