Varieties

At this stage, they all look the same!
When hops were first introduced to brewing, a very long time ago, little was known about 'variety'. Over the last two hundred years or so, though, varieties were cultivated, and the number available to the farmers boomed. Botanists have been crossbreeding hops to get the best hop bines, with varying characteristics to benefit the grower and brewer, and originally named them after themselves. Thanks to this pioneering, we have hundreds of varieties available to us home growers today. Then again, thanks to Trademarking, some we don't!

Characteristics popular to hop growers include resistance to moulds and wilt, while those with the brewers are higher alpha acids, better aroma and better keeping properties. Some hops have been bred to be shorter, thereby making picking easier. These are known as dwarf hops. Others are grown seedless, and are called noble hops (Saaz, Hallertaur, for example).

Traditional English hop varieties, such as Goldings and Fuggle are popular in the traditional British Ale. Similarly, hop varieties traditionally found in ‘Bohemia’, or the Czech Republic, are Saaz, and as such are the only hops found in traditional Pilsner style beers. If you want to brew traditional ales, then use traditional English varieties; keep the Hallertaurs for German ales, Saaz for Pilsners, etc. However, feel free to experiment using either hops in a similar style, or go mad and brew a cascade stout (don’t enter that into a competition though).

The varieties available to you as a home grower are myriad. Pick one that you may want to brew with, or if you like an American IPA, then I can recommend nothing more than Cascade. In fact, try Cascade just for its aroma! Grapefruit and Basset’s Fruit Salads! Yum.

Try these websites for more information on Hop Varieties.
http://beersmith.com/hop-list/
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/101/hops
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/wiki/doku.php?id=hop_varieties

And finally, this excellent site (for American hops):
http://beerlegends.com/hops-varieties

Or, ask your local home brew store or internet forum for advice.