Shipping to 30+ countries

Shipping

Hoptimaal offers a wide variety of beers both in-store and online. If you can place an order, we usually have the product in stock (though mistakes can happen, unfortunately). Products that are in stock will be shipped the same day if ordered before 3:00 PM.

If we make an error with stock levels, you will be notified within 24 hours. In that email, we will offer you an alternative product, the right to a full refund, and a new delivery time. It's up to you how you'd like us to resolve the issue.

We ship all orders with DPD from the Netherlands. You can choose between:

  • Home delivery or delivery to your work
  • Delivery to a DPD pickup point near you

Shipping costs and the free-shipping threshold for your country are in the table below.

Deposit

On cans and bottles we charge the Dutch deposit (statiegeld): €0.15 per can and €0.10 per bottle (a little more for some bottles). It shows as a separate line in your cart. The deposit belongs to the Dutch deposit system: you can return the packaging in the Netherlands, not in deposit machines in other countries.

Shipping Costs by Country

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CountryShipping costReduced rateFree shipping from
Netherlandspickup point €6.95
home €8.50		–€75
Belgium€8.95–€100
Germany€13.50–€100
Denmark€15.95–€150
Austria€15.95–€150
Bulgaria€47.50€25 from €150not available
Estonia€17.50–€150
Finlandpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
France€16.95–€150
Greece€29.50€15 from €150not available
Hungary€21.95€10 from €150€200
Ireland€15.95–€150
Italy€16.95–€150
Croatia€47.50€25 from €150not available
Latvia€17.50–€150
Lithuania€21.95€10 from €150€200
Luxembourg€12.95–€150
Poland€15.95–€150
Portugal€19.95€10 from €150€200
Romania€27.50€10 from €150not available
Spain€18.75–€150
Czech Republic€15.95–€150
Swedenpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
Norway*Coming soon
United Kingdom*Coming soon
Switzerland*Coming soon

Delivery

DPD generally delivers within 24 hours after receiving the parcel. So if we have received your order before 15:00 on working days, in 99% of cases you will have your order at home the next day. It may sometimes happen that they need one day longer. You can follow this via the Track & Trace details you receive from us, so you can see exactly where your order is. DPD also gives you a time window of 2 to 4 hours in which your order will be delivered. Not at home? No problem! You can indicate yourself whether you want them to come by again tomorrow or whether they should deliver it to the nearest post office.

Do you have a question about the delivery of your beer? Feel free to contact us: customer service.

Returns

You have a cooling-off period of 14 days after you have received the product. Within this period you can register the product for return. The email you received stating that your order is on its way contains a link that you can use to easily and free of charge download and print a return label. Returning is free: we provide the return label and the shipping costs of your return are at our expense. After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back. If you bought multiple items at once, the period starts after receipt of your last item.

How do I return or exchange a product?

  • Fill in the return form within 14 days after receipt. If you are unable to print the return form, please write at least the order number and your name on a piece of paper and include it with your return.
  • Register your return with our customer service. You can do this by sending an email to: info@hoptimaal.nl or by calling 085 -130 1591. Or print your return label yourself via the link in the email titled "Your order is on its way".
  • After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back.
  • Then send your return back in its original condition and with the packaging. Products that are damaged or incomplete are not eligible for exchange or refund.

Please note: after the 14-day cooling-off period it is no longer possible to return your product.

What can you expect after returning your product?

After receiving your return, you will receive a confirmation from us. This can take 3 working days, but in general we process your return on the day we receive it. We will check your return to see whether your product meets our return conditions and will then get to work on the solution you want.

Do you want your money back?

  • We will refund the purchase amount within 3 working days after confirmation of receipt to the account with which you paid. If you want to receive the purchase amount in another way, please contact us about the possibilities.
  • In case of visible signs of use, missing accessories or missing packaging, you are no longer entitled to a refund. If the packaging is not returned entirely in its original condition, we won't make a fuss and you will in any case get 75% of the purchase amount back. This is very rarely the case; usually the full purchase amount is simply refunded.

Do you want to receive a new product?

After receiving your return, we will send the new product right away. If the product is no longer in stock, we will refund the purchase amount to the account with which you paid.

  • Is the new product cheaper? The remaining amount will be refunded to your account within 3 working days.
  • Is the new product more expensive? You will receive a payment request for the remaining amount. After receipt of payment, we will send the product immediately.
  • Do you want to receive the new product at a different address or on a different day? Please contact us.

Exceptions

Beer that has been opened will not be taken back. We also do not take back beer that you ordered at a discount because the shelf life is almost expired. Of course we state this clearly on the product page, so that you are not surprised by a limited best-before date.

The item may be returned to the address below:

Hoptimaal
Leeghwater 5
3825MR Amersfoort
Netherlands

Order before 3:00 PM on weekdays, shipped today.
Break-proof packaging

Your beers are always carefully packaged. If there is any damage during transit, we offer a guarantee. Not satisfied, money back.

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Beer School › Hops · Hop variety

Chinook

Chinook is an American hop from the American government's breeding programme, on the market since the mid-1980s. At first mainly a bittering hop, it is now also appreciated for pine, grapefruit and spicy notes.

  • CountryUnited States (Washington)
  • BreederUSDA-ARS (US Department of Agriculture), Prosser
  • Introduced1985 according to BarthHaas and the Oxford Companion to Beer; 1986 according to the USDA gene bank GRIN (official registration in 1986)
  • ParentagePetham Golding × male USDA plant 63012M
  • Typeboth
  • Alpha acidsabout 11–15% (USDA-ARS, Hopsteiner, BarthHaas; varies by harvest)

What is it?

Chinook comes from the hop breeding programme of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS). The breeder C.E. Zimmermann made the cross in 1974 in Prosser, in the state of Washington. The seedling was tested as W421-38 and in 1980 received the permanent number USDA 21226.

The mother is Petham Golding, an English Golding hop. The father is a male USDA plant (63012M) with Brewer's Gold and a selection with the code Utah 526-4 in the family tree.

According to BarthHaas and the Oxford Companion to Beer, Chinook came on the market in 1985; the official registration appeared in 1986 in the journal Crop Science. The name refers to the chinook salmon and to Chinook Pass in Washington. Chinook is a public variety, without a breeder's brand name.

Aroma and flavour

The USDA described Chinook as a hop with high alpha acids, low beta acids and a 'pleasant aroma'. A large brewer used it as a high-alpha and aroma hop, mainly for bitterness. According to BarthHaas, craft brewers later gave it a second life as an aroma hop, for the citrus and herbal notes.

An American study of Cascade and Chinook from Virginia found myrcene, methyl octanoate, geraniol and linalool as the main aroma compounds in the samples. Germacrene B was characteristic of Chinook there. In a study by researchers from the hop merchant Hopsteiner, with 97 varieties, Chinook fell in the middle category for thiols, the fruity sulfur compounds.

In pale ales and IPAs, according to the Oxford Companion to Beer, Chinook can give a clean bitterness and aromas of pine needles and grapefruit. Highly concentrated, it is considered somewhat 'catty', an aroma reminiscent of cat urine. Merchants describe Chinook as resinous, with apricot and grapefruit (Hopsteiner), or as spicy and almost smoky, with tarragon, juniper and grapefruit (BarthHaas, about the raw hop).

Use and similar hops

Chinook is a 'dual purpose' hop: suitable for bitterness and aroma. The USDA variety description gives 13.6% alpha acids; Hopsteiner gives 12–14% and BarthHaas, for recent harvests, 10.7–15%. According to the USDA, the trade saw it as a super-alpha hop.

According to the USDA, Chinook is moderately resistant to downy mildew, resistant to verticillium (a wilt disease) and fairly to quite good in keeping quality.

BarthHaas mentions pale ale, IPA, porter and stout as suitable styles. Indie Hops recommends combining Strata with Chinook or Cascade for a West Coast IPA.

Myth or fact?

Partly true

‘The more hops there are in a beer, the longer it keeps.’

Hops do inhibit some of the bacteria that spoil beer, that is correct. But not all beer spoilers, and the hop aroma itself is fragile: strongly hopped beers are best drunk fresh and stored cool.

Partly true

‘The more hops there are in a beer, the longer it keeps.’

There is a kernel of truth in it. Around 1150, Hildegard of Bingen already wrote that hops, through their bitterness, keep out some of the spoilage in drinks, so that they stay good for longer. According to beer historian Martyn Cornell, unhopped ale could sometimes spoil after as little as a week or two. Modern research confirms that iso-alpha acids from hops inhibit gram-positive bacteria.

But hops do not protect against everything. Some strains of lactic acid bacteria, such as Lactobacillus brevis, are resistant to hops, and gram-negative bacteria such as Pectinatus and Megasphaera can spoil beer too.

More important for the enthusiast: what hops contribute in aroma and flavour is precisely what is fragile. According to a 2023 review article, the aroma stability of dry-hopped beer is low. In a storage trial, two groups of hop bitter compounds (humulinones and alpha acids) dropped sharply in the first three months at 20 °C, and hardly at all at 3 °C. According to the authors, you are therefore best off storing dry-hopped beer cool, at around 4 °C. A study of eleven hoppy ales brewed in Germany does add nuance: some hop aroma compounds, such as linalool and geraniol, remained reasonably stable during storage, but in some ales the hop aroma depended on less stable esters. And light can break down iso-alpha acids, which contributes to a skunky smell.

In short: hops help against some of the spoilage, but a strongly hopped beer is not a beer for keeping.

Sources

A bit of history

In 1997, according to the USDA, the US harvested 3.69 million pounds of Chinook, about 1,670 tonnes. The variety is mainly grown in Washington. According to the Oxford Companion to Beer, it does less well in Oregon, because of downy mildew.

In 2025, Chinook stood at 954 acres in Washington and 103 acres in Oregon, together well over 425 hectares. The figures for Idaho are not public.

How to taste it

A good starting point: an American pale ale or IPA with Chinook. Smell for pine needles and grapefruit, and in the finish pay attention to a firm but clean bitterness. If you want to compare, also taste a porter or stout with Chinook: BarthHaas also recommends the variety for those styles.

Hop aroma is fragile. So drink hoppy beers fresh and store them cool.

Where it takes centre stage

Pale AlePale ale is a hoppy, easy-drinking beer of medium strength, with just enough malt... IPAIPA is a beer in which the hops play the lead: usually fairly bitter... West Coast IPAA West Coast IPA is a clear, dry and fairly bitter IPA, with a... PorterPorter is a dark brown to almost black beer that appeared in London in...

More hop varieties

AmarilloCascadeCentennialCitraColumbus (CTZ)East Kent GoldingsEl DoradoFuggleGalaxyHallertau BlancHallertauer MittelfrühIdaho 7MosaicMotuekaNectaronNelson SauvinRiwakaSaazSabroSimcoeStrataTettnangerVic Secret

Terms

Alpha acids
The main bitter compounds from hops (humulones); they dissolve poorly and are hardly bitter, but during the boil they turn into iso-alpha acids, which do taste bitter.
Thiols
Sulfur compounds that you can smell at just a few to a few dozen nanograms per litre, such as 4MMP (blackcurrant, passion fruit) and 3MH (rhubarb, grapefruit); they come from hops and also from malt, often in a bound form from which yeast can release them during fermentation.
Super-alpha hop
A trade term for hop varieties with an exceptionally high alpha acid content, such as Columbus, Tomahawk and Zeus (about 14–18%); according to the USDA, the trade also counted Chinook among them. They are mainly used to give beer bitterness.
Sources for this page
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