Hop variety · 🇳🇿 NZ
Waimea
Tangerine pine grapefruit thiol-strong. Bred by NZ Plant & Food Research, released 2012.
- Alpha acid
- 15–19 %
- Total oil
- 2–2.8 mL/100 g
- 3MH-family thiols
- Significant
- 4MMP
- High
- Data
- Supplier reference
Aroma in one line
Brewers describe Waimea as tangerine pine grapefruit thiol-strong. In Hoparoma's hop notes its thiol character is filed as thiol bomb. That places it among the varieties whose tropical and citrus punch depends heavily on bound thiol precursors, which only show up when the yeast releases them.
Brewing values
Typical ranges come from supplier datasheets and lot certificates; the median column pools 10 published sources. Oil fractions are percent of total oil.
| Measure | Typical range | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha acid % | 15–19 | 17 |
| Beta acid % | – | – |
| Cohumulone % of alpha | – | – |
| Total oil mL/100 g | 2–2.8 | 2.4 |
| Myrcene % | 55–65 | 60 |
| Humulene % | 7–11 | 9 |
| β-Caryophyllene % | 5–7 | 6 |
| Farnesene % | 0–2 | 1 |
| β-Pinene % | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Linalool % | 0.5–0.9 | 0.7 |
| Geraniol % | 0.3–0.5 | 0.4 |
Range source: hopMedics-derived 2026-06-14 backfill (aggregate derived from pooled medians; beta acid and cohumulone not specified).
Thiol potential
Most of a hop's thiol aroma sits in the cone as odourless precursors bound to cysteine or glutathione; free thiols are a small fraction of the pool Gros et al. 2012 Kishimoto 2009. The tiers above summarise published precursor measurements and supplier statements for this variety. They are qualitative on purpose: Hoparoma's internal weighting is not published, and lot-to-lot variation is large.
Variety note: linalool/geraniol/oil/myrcene from hop-medians; beta/cohumulone unspecified.
Which yeast brings it out
To cash in the bound precursors, ferment with a strain rated high for β-lyase activity: Berkeley Yeast Tropics, Escarpment Labs Thiol Libre, LalBrew Diamond Lager, Omega OYL-402 Cosmic Punch, Omega OYL-404 Star Party, Omega OYL-405 Helio Gazer, SafLager SH-45, WLP077 Tropicale Yeast Blend, WLP830 German Lager. A clean Chico-type strain (US-05, WLP001) leaves most of this potential locked; London III and Conan lineage strains sit in between.
Rule of thumb only. See the yeast table for every strain's rating and the literature behind it.
In Hoparoma
Hoparoma computes how much of Waimea's aroma compounds survive your boil, whirlpool, and dry hop, and models the thiol side across yeast, hop, malt, and Phantasm together. The result is a research-based estimate of where the beer is likely to land, not a guarantee.
Free in any browser, 3 recipes a month. What the calculator does
Sources and data quality
- Data quality: Supplier reference (2026 NZ reference)
- Typical ranges: hopMedics-derived 2026-06-14 backfill
- Thiol background: Gros et al. 2012, Kishimoto 2009, Takoi et al. 2009, Roland et al. 2016
- Supplier references: Yakima Chief Hops, Hop Products Australia, BarthHaas, NZ Hops, Hop Alliance
Full list with links on the sources page. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct the dataset in the next release. This page's tables are published under CC BY 4.0; reuse with credit and a link.