Columbus

Columbus has an unknown origin. It is often referred to as CTZ (Columbus / Tomahawk / Zeus) due to Hopunion and YCH attempting to register the same hop with different names. After an agreement was reached between the two names, both names were registered. They are technically the same hop however. It is genetically distinct from Zeus hops, but has a very similar profile. The exact lineage of Columbus is unknown, however it is widely assumed that Brewer’s Gold and several undisclosed American varieties played significant parenting roles. It was developed in the 1980s by Charles Zimmerman who had worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 1979 and who subsequently held positions with various private hop-processing and trading companies.

Columbus is a dual-purpose hop that can be used in all hop additions throughout the brewing process.

Specific aroma descriptors of the Columbus hop includes earthiness, black pepper, licorice, spice (curry) and subtle citrus. The floral and citrus notes from the Columbus hop come out in both aroma and flavor, but can be pungent. This strong flavor and aroma make the Columbus hop great for late additions to a boil or dry-hopping.

Some hops just taste better together. We recently analyzed [ 1 ] hundreds of the most popular beers to find which hops are commonly paired together. We found that Centennial , Chinook , Citra , Simcoe , Cascade & Amarillo hops are commonly used alongside the Columbus hop. This is not a complete list, but should give you a good idea of what hops are commonly used together.