Why would someone use Cascade for bittering over Amarillo?

it's interesting to me to see people saying that cascade is used commonly as a bittering hop. I was going to make a batch of Amber ale which uses chinook as the bittering hop, but realized it didn't have any on hand (d'oh!). I had some cascade laying around and thought to myself, 'can I use this for bittering instead of aroma?' did a little digging on ye olde internet and discovered the same thing that people are saying here which is that you can use any hop variety for any purpose, it's just that some are better suited for certain purposes. I found a recipe which called for 2oz of cascade for bittering (didn't find many recipes with cascade though as I was trying to find a recipe for an amber ale), which i thought was excessive. I wasn't really sure what I would get as a result, but I used .75 oz of cascade and then .75 oz willamette at 15 min and 1 oz willamette at flameout. It's still in the carboy, but based on what I tasted in the wort, it has much more of an american style IPA flavor than the recipe I'm using for my Amber; however, but it plays really nicely against the caramel and chocolate flavors that I have from the malt. I'm still pretty new to homebrewing, and it's great to see just how much potential there is for interesting, inventive brews.

I can't compare amarillo to cascade, as I have never used this hop variety, but I have to say I am impressed with how cascade performs as a bittering hop. be aware though, you will still have a good deal of the citrus notes coming through in your brew. maybe this is less so in a 90 minute boil? perhaps someone with more brewing experience can confirm this for me.

Bittering is almost entirely about alpha acids. You could use some cascade, or a LITTLE bit of Magnum, or a TON of a low-bittering hop and they will all produce (more or less) the same bittering result.

But this is a broad generalization and it's not always true, so don't learn this as a simple answer.

Every hop is made up of 4 or more hop oils, including alpha acids but also beta acids, cohumuline, etc. These all affect the hop experience... less so if they were used for bittering, but it can add up.

For example, for any beer I make which has later hop additions (flavor or aroma, 30 mins or less) I will bitter with good old Magnum hops. Buy a POUND of this hop when you can! But I have made beers with large amounts of magnum and I got an unintended "citrus/grapefruit" characteristic. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it does not. Magnum, Northern Brewer, and Cascade tend to be some of the most popular bittering hops.

Most hops can be grouped as "citrus, piney, earthy" etc. and having a chart of this will allow you to easily substitute hops.

In my experience,the bittering hops do contribute to hop flavor outside of bittering. Amarillo has different characteristics and as such would depend on what the brewer wants for their beer.

How long is a piece of string? What I'm getting at is that it just comes down to personal preference. For instance, for a lot of styles I prefer a higher cohumulone hop for bittering. In a Munich heavy IPA that high cohumulone helps balance out the maltiness. ANY hop can be used for ANY purpose if you like the results. I don't care for Magnum as a finishing hop, but others do. That doesn't say anything about Magnum, it speaks to people's preferences.

Probably comes down to reputation. Cascade has been really popular in the homebrew community for 20 (30?) years.

Also... just saw this in Wikipedia...

Unlike most varieties of hops, which may be acquired and propagated by the purchase of rhizomes, Amarillo hops are privately grown only by Virgil Gamache Farms; the organization holds a trademark on the name "Amarillo."

(also checked in the Hop Union Variety Databook to confirm)

All things equal, I think a private variety will have a tougher time competing against a big player like Cascade, because the private one has limited distribution (can only buy through the owner).

Think I'll try out Amarillo next time. See how I like it.