From Vol. 8, No. 7, November 2024
I’m not sure that “French pils” is destined to become more than a novelty, but it seems as if using a hop like Mistral could provide a modern twist. If you look across the family trees of the hops available, you will see Brewer’s Gold and Fuggle somewhere in the heritage of cultivar after cultivar.
You’ll also find Cascade in more recent crosses made in breeding programs outside the United States. Huell Melon, Mandarina Bavaria and Halltertau Blanc from Germany are all daughters of Cascade. Many of the new varieties from hop merchant Charles Faram in England are offspring of Cascade. As are Mistral and Elixir from the French company Comptoir Agricole.
Heritage: Peter Darby, former head of research as Wye Hops in England, also worked with Comptoir agricole before retiring, and made the cross in 2009 as well as the initial seedling selection in Alsace in 2011 to go to field plots. Mistral is a seedling of Cascade crossed with a male seedling from Strisselspalt. Mistral and Loral from the Hop Breeding Company are both granddaughters of Strisselspalt.
The basics: 6.5-8.5% alpha acids, 3.1-3.8% beta acids, 0.8-1.5 mL/100 grams total oil.
Aroma qualities: Citrus, rose, melon, lychee. Comptoir agricole recommends using Mistral in a variety of top fermenting beers, such as IPA and saison, and notes she is ideal in dry-hopped beers. That does not rule out Alsatian-Style Pilsner, whatever that is.