New hop varieties take years to go from thoughts and plans to being in common usage by brewers.
One that has been bubbling around and got the attention of Stan Hieronymus is HBC-438. It was seen and taste by home brewers back at their 2015 gathering under but might now be poised to take the next step to sainthood.
Here are the pertinent facts around the hop from the Hieronymus piece:
“Profits from sales to homebrewers will go to Ales for ALS.
Its mother is native American (neomexicanus). It is a bastard (father unknown).
In a raw state, it smells of both tropical and stone fruits. It is pleasantly herbal, a bit spicy, and I’m pretty sure that when used badly it will produce beers that can be described as catty (as in “smells like a litter box”).
There are a few homebrewers walking around with it now, because they attended the “Brewing With Experimental Hops – A New Hop Variety Just For Homebrewers” presentation last month at the National Homebrewers Conference in San Diego.”
Years from now, this might be the hip new hop.