From Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2020
Speaking at an online “Hoppy Topics” seminar presented by Hopsteiner last summer, Tom Nielsen—research and development and raw materials manager at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.—nicely summarized the challenges plant breeders face serving both brewers and farmers. He concluded by describing the attributes of what he would call a perfect hop. The short version:
– High yield: 12-14 bales (2,400-2,800 pounds) per acre.
– Low input requirements and good overall agronomics, including good mildew and spider mite resistance.
– Good pickability.
– Consistent maturity, robust to weather fluctuations, reasonable water consumption.
– Hybrid aroma/alpha.
– Ideal water-soluable fraction. This includes:
*Thiol rich.
*Linalool rich.
*Biotransformation positive (high levels of geranyl esters).
*Citrus aldehydes: octanal, citral, others.
*No dominating negative compounds.
– Quick to dry in a kiln.
– Excellent storageability.
– Easy to process.
– Seedless.
– Low dextrinase activity (to avoid hop creep).
– Minimal to no pH increase during dry hopping.
– Clean, no lingering bitterness.
– Strong antioxidant properties.
– Reasonable industry access through royalty systems.
– Stems from a competitive, iterative process that speeds up research, development and commercialization of new genotypes with preferred phenotypes by brewers and consumers.