Hops + Wine
Not a natural pairing: they share little aroma and few recipes use both, which puts them in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs.
Do hops and wine go together?
Not really. 4 recipes in our collection combine them, and they share 39 flavor molecules. That places them in the top 22% of every ingredient pair we score.
What they have in common
They overlap on 39 flavor molecules: 34% of hops's 115. Among the shared key aromas are 4-methylguaiacol (smoky, spicy) and isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity). Most of what they share is background chemistry many foods carry, so the overlap does little for the smell.
What each one brings
hops
The herbal side. Herbal notes make up 26% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 8% for wine. It carries 76 molecules wine doesn't have.
wine
The floral side. Floral notes make up 16% of its labelled aroma molecules, against 9% for hops. It carries 499 molecules hops doesn't have.
Add a third ingredient
- Grape: the best fit for both, top 32% of pairs with hops, top 9% with wine.
- Mushroom: top 39% of pairs with hops, top 8% with wine.
- Apple: top 33% of pairs with hops, top 10% with wine.
- Butter: top 29% of pairs with hops, top 13% with wine.
Ranked by the average of its two pairing scores. Only foods used in at least 100 recipes are suggested.
Recipes with hops and wine
Almost always drinks: 2 of the 2 recipes with a course label are drinks.
Can you swap one for the other?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: hops has 76 molecules wine doesn't, and wine has 499 that hops doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
All 39 shared molecules
See every shared molecule grouped by chemical class, with key aromas marked, plus the 76 only in hops and the 499 only in wine.
Hops and wine questions
Do hops and wine go together?
Not a natural pairing: they share little aroma and few recipes use both, which puts them in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs.
What do hops and wine have in common?
They overlap on 39 flavor molecules: 34% of hops's 115. Among the shared key aromas are 4-methylguaiacol (smoky, spicy) and isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity). Most of what they share is background chemistry many foods carry, so the overlap does little for the smell.
What goes with hops and wine?
Grape is the best third ingredient: top 32% of pairs with hops and top 9% with wine. Mushroom and apple also fit both.
What can you make with hops and wine?
Almost always drinks: 2 of the 2 recipes with a course label are drinks. Common dishes include Elder Wine, Lietuviskas Midus.
Can I use wine instead of hops?
Not really. Each has a lot the other lacks: hops has 76 molecules wine doesn't, and wine has 499 that hops doesn't. Treat them as partners, not stand-ins. This compares flavor only; texture, moisture and the job each does in a dish matter too.
Compare other ingredients
Ranks compare this pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. Molecule counts are what the studies and databases we aggregate have reported for each ingredient: a measure of coverage, not a full census. How we score pairs
Cite this analysis
Compound Kitchen (2026). Compound similarity analysis: Hops vs Wine. https://compkitchen.com/compare/hops-vs-wine. Accessed 2026-11-04.
@misc{compkitchen_compare_compound_similarity_analysis_hops_vs_wine_2026,
title = {Compound similarity analysis: Hops vs Wine},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compare/hops-vs-wine},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-04}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.