* From a good family
* Hop profile: Nugget
* Links
-Oregon I: Indie Hops
-Oregon II: The sub-region
-Orange hops
* Hunting for hops in Vegas
Welcome to Vol. 7, No. 12. This wraps up seven seasons for Hop Queries. So why not go to Las Vegas? I will be there soon (April 21-23) for the Craft Brewers Conference. The hop-related technical presentations are not as numerous nor always as in depth as at the World Brewing Congress (in Minnesota this year, in August), but I expect to learn plenty and will share the information in future Queries. There is no better place to check in with hop merchants from almost every significant hop growing region in the world.
I recognize that a relatively small number of subscribers will be in Las Vegas, so have made a list of a few essential stops the last section of the newsletter this month. The suggestions still may be of interest to those of you not attending, because the topics on the agenda reflect what is top of mind in hops at this moment.
THIS IS NOT A FAMILY TREE
This dendogram looks a little like the (out of date) family tree of yeast (scroll down to find the “tree”) unveiled in the mid-teens, but it does not connect mother and daughter (or grandparents and offspring) like a chart that illustrates how Citra became Citra. It represents the “genetic distances of 109 world hop collection cultivars based on 269 polymorphic molecular markers.”
The dendrogram is from a paper, “Utilization of molecular methods for hop (Humulus lupulus L.) genotype evaluation,” describing research at the Czech Hop Research Institute. A caption on the chart notes that hops of European origin are in green, ones of mixed origin in blue, ones of American origin in red, and Czech registered cultivars in black. That can be confusing, because, for instance, Cascade is a mother of Mandarina Bavaria, but that hop was bred in Germany.
(I circled Brewer’s Gold, Fuggle, and Hallertau, all of which contribute genetic material to Citra [also circled], to make it clear what the chart does not reflect.)
The paper’s authors write, “The influence of two basic historical breeding lines became mostly evident, cultivar Brewer’s Gold with wild American genotype in origin, and its daughter cultivar Northern Brewer with European germplasm in origin. Within Northern Brewer, hybrid cultivars depended on how much germplasm of European aroma hops (Saaz and Fuggle groups) or American high-alpha hops were included in them.
“Within Brewer’s Gold hybrid, cultivars were not strongly able to change their American origin to European germplasm (Herkules, Taurus, Atlas, Kazbek). But it was possible to manage by American breeders for aroma hop cultivars with origin of European cultivars and American males (Crystal, Vanguard, Mt. Hood, Santiam, Horizon).
The second chart provides another way to look at genetic distancing. In this one (a two-dimensional principal coordinate analysis), the country of cultivar origin is represented by: Germany green triangle, Czech green square, UK green square with x, France green circle, Poland green triangle outlined, Slovenia green circle with x, Australia blue circle, New Zealand blue square, USA red circle, South Africa black circle.
The research establishes the value of utilizing molecular genetic methods for “reliable cultivar identification or the evaluation of genetic variability and similarity by hierarchical cluster analysis and principal coordinate analysis.” (You may read the paper here.) I am passing it along because the charts provide a way to visualize where “old world” and “new world” hops meet.
In “Modern Lager Beer,” authors Jack Hendler and Joe Connolly write, “When it comes to brewing traditional Continental-style lagers, using Continental hops is considered crucial by many brewers.” Those Continental hops are most often land race varieties. Despite climate change, the Saazer types and Mittelfrüh are not disappearing any time soon.
However, thinking about where hops bred for the future might land on the second chart supplies another bit of information when choosing new varieties to use. These could be Diamant or Akoya from Germany. They could be Lórien, Contessa, Adeena or HBC 1134 from the United States.
They could emulate the character of land race varieties, or not. It depends on what you expect from a modern lager.
HOP PROFILE: NUGGET
Indie Hops blog “In Hop Pursuit” has a long and colorful account of how Nugget came to be released in the early 1980s. Basically, USDA hop breeder Al Haunold set out to prove it was possible create a hop with alpha acids that exceeded 11 to 12 percent, but when he did growers were not all that excited about it. Farmers in Washington were happy to grow Cluster (with an average of 8 percent alpha acids) and had no interest in a higher alpha hop, because that meant growing hops on fewer acres. A world-wide hop shortage and the release of Idaho-bred Galena changed the math.
By 1985, Washington farmers harvested 1,053 acres of Nugget (with 11-14 percent alpha acids and some farms managing 15 percent), those in Oregon 925 acres and growers in Idaho 21 acres.
Hops with higher levels of alpha long ago supplanted Nugget in Washington, but it remains the alpha hop for brewers who want to bitter their beer efficiently with an Oregon hop. As important, it sits between Citra and HBC-630 on Yakima Chief Hops’ “survivables” chart, primarily because of fairly high amounts of linalool and 2-methylbutyl isobutyrate. Used in the whirlpool, particularly alongside a cultivar rich in geraniol, it may help create desirable fruity aromas and flavors.
Heritage: The seedling that became Nugget resulted from a cross made in 1970. The same male (63015M) provided the pollen that fathered Centennial. Nugget is 5/8 Brewer’s Gold, 1/8 Early Green, 1/16 East Kent Golding, 1/32 Bavarian, 5/32 Unknown.
The basics: 11.5-14% alpha acids, 3-5% beta acids, 1.2-2.1 mL/100 grams total oil.
Aroma qualities: Nugget herself may smell of fresh-crushed herbs, grapefruit zest, stone fruit, pineapple, or resin. And, particularly because of linalool, she may play an important role in biotransformation, creating still more fruit character.
ELSEWHERE
– My favorite quote in Pellicle’s profile of Indie Hops in Oregon is co-founder Jim Solberg saying, “There’s a lot of latitude for the hop researcher, Shaun Townsend.” Yes and no. Indie Hops was conceived to breed cultivars for Oregon farmers with bold aroma and flavor qualities that rival those available to Yakima Valley farmers. They do this pretty much at 45° north. However, the first two hops to come out of Townsend’s breeding program, Strata and Lórien, sit on different ends of the spectrum. So maybe, in this case, range is a better word than latitude.
– Jeff Alworth makes a case for considering hop growing sub-regions, which is fine with me. One point I would add about the varieties he describes as being more “European” is that they were bred with that in mind. Take a look at the right side of the second chart above. I am of the opinion that terroir matters, but the single most important factor in determining the aroma and flavor characteristics of any one hop is the variety itself. Amarillo grown in Germany may smell different than Amarillo grown in Oregon, but that she is the cultivar we call Amarillo plays a larger role in determining what she adds to beer than any other variable.
– The Brülosophy Show features five hops “to achieve orange characteristics in beer.” You will have to watch to see how they are ranked. The five, in alphabetical order: Amarillo, Azacca, Citra, Mandarina Bavaria, and Idaho 7. The next time they do this they may want to include Tangier, which was developed and is grown on the Segal Ranch south of Yakima. John Segal only had enough pellets to put in the hands of a few brewers following the 2023 harvest, but baby plants are ready for expanded acreage this year.
FOLLOW THE HOPS IN VEGAS
CBC Seminars
Researcher presentations (11:15 am-12:45 pm, Monday, Venetian Ballroom E) – The presentations are short, but there is an opportunity to talk with researchers. Hop related presentations include: a hop creep cheat sheet; hop lot matching methodologies; better understanding the hop storage index (HSI); and smoke taint.
Exploring hop picking windows (1-2 pm, Monday, Venetian Ballroom E) – This builds on a presentation at CBC in 2023 I have written about here, as well as one at the 2023 MBAA, this time including the opportunity to rub and sniff.
Genetic engineering in barley, hops and yeast (2:30-3:30 pm, Monday, Venetian Ballroom E) – The official title is “Exploring the Boundaries of Innovation.” You get the idea.
Natural hop products made easy (3:45-4:45 pm, Monday, Marco Polo 705) – A sponsored seminar from Totally Natural Solutions intended “break the stigma and de-mystify the use of advanced hop products.”
What’s new in public hop breeding (2:30-4 pm, Tuesday, Venetian Ballroom E) – More rub and sniff, with the opportunity to provide feedback that helps determine which experimental varieties move forward.
Alternative hop selection methods for small brewers (11:30am-12:30 pm, Wednesday, Venetian Ballroom B) – I recently talked the owner of a regional brewery who complained he just couldn’t find Cascade hops he was happy with. “Sierra Nevada must have selected them all,” he said. He wasn’t (quite) serious, but there is a reason that each harvest larger brewers select lots they prefer. Smaller breweries, with fewer resources, do not need to be left out.
Tasting hops
There are more opportunities to taste (experimental, recently named, established favorites) hops in beer—on the trade show floor, in nearby hospitality rooms, and at drinking establishments around town—than most doctors would approve of. So, if you have permission for only limited consumption:
– Hop Growers of America will be pouring four single-hop beers made by Stone Brewing in Booth 1557, featuring Anchovy, ADHA-218, Elani, and Vista hops. There will be plenty more hops to rub and sniff.
– German Hop Growers (HVG) hospitality (2-4:30 pm, Monday, Casanova 501): Lagers brewed by Bierstadt Lagerhaus, GreenBench, Jack’s Abby, Human Robot, Halfway Crooks, Von Ebert Brewing, and Goldfinger.
– Beer the Czech Way pub take over (beginning at 2 pm, Monday, Teneya Creek Brewery) and Brewing Like Czechs Do hospitality (2-4:30 pm, Tuesday, Casanova 503): Lagers from Sacred Profane Brewing and Cohesion Brewing.