Tuesday 9 August 2016

New hop varieties in 1953

I’ve been browsing through a bound Brewers’ Guardian from 1953 again. And found some fascinating stuff about new hop varieties. I’m sure that you’re as fascinated about this as I am. If not, why the hell would you be reading my blog?


Here’s a lovely table:

Results of analysis of samples of hops entered for the new varieties Challenge Cups Competition.
(Resins calculated on moisture-free hops)
CLASS "A"
Alpha Resin  Beta Resin Moisture
Grower Variety entered % % H2O
Amos, A. & K. J. Pride of Kent 170a 7.25 12.05 9.94
do. Northern Brewer WFBI35 8.69 9.74 9.6
Bomford. J. F. Ltd. Sunshine Hop V94 6.19 8.41 8.59
Chambers, Wm. & Sons Southfleet Farm Pride of Kent 170a 7.71 11.82 9.59
do. Sunshine Hop V94 7.51 9.75 7.84
do. Early Promise X35 6.84 7.71 8.69
Chambers, Wm. & Sons Swanscombe Farm Brewers Gold C9a 8.88 9.87 10.11
Chambers, Wm. & Sons Langley Farm Early Promise X35 6.74 6.49 8.96
Chambers, Wm. & Sons Hunton & Yalding Farms Early Promise X35 5.51 9.38 7.97
Chambers, Wm. & Sons Sevenoaks Farm Brewers Gold C9a 7.08 5.18 9.89
do. Early Promise X35 6.07 8.99 9.18
do. Pride of Kent 170a 7.41 12.96 10.39
Day, Brian H. OT48 7.47 9.17 8.89
Hukins, W. D. Northern Brewer WFB135 7.95 9.18 9.7
Nott, J. OF27 6.71 8.24 10.8
Nott, J. Northern Brewer WFB135 9.02 10.88 10.38
Skinner, Wm. & Son Early Promise X35 6.31 8.23 8.84
Little Fowle Hall Early Promise X35 7.71 8.27 9.52
Wickham, R. D. Early Promise X35 4.38 13.03 9.92
Wimshurst, T. E. Pride of Kent 170a 7.07 11.79 9.9
do. College Cluster N15BIS 5.72 7.72 9.27
do. John Ford WFA90 8.77 10.31 10.26
Worley, J. A. Northern Brewer WFB135 8.36 9.98 9.03
Veall, H. Pride of Kent 170a 8.04 14.36 10.14
Veall, H. Northern Brewer WFB135 8.45 8.89 9.31
Source:
"Brewers' Guardian 1953", February page 74.


Not all of those varieties have continued to be grown. A couple – Northern Brewer and Brewers Gold – are still pretty popular.

I’m not going to pester you with too many words. But I will make a few remarks. The alpha acid content of Early Promise is really variable. From 4.38% to 7.71%.

Oh, and make a quick comparison with modern English hops.

English hop varieties in 2000
Cultivar alpha-acid (%) alpha/beta ratio Cohumulone (%) Oil (%) Humulene /Caryophyllene ratio Comments
Admiral  13.5-16.2  2.6-3.2  26-32  1.0-1.7  Wilt tolerant
Bramling Cross  6.0-7.8  2.4-3.1  26-31  0.7-1.0  2.2 Wilt tolerant
Brewers Gold  5.5-8.5  1.9 38 1.5 2.3
Bullion  6.0-9.0  1.9 36 3.2 1.5
First Gold (Dwarf) 5.6-8.7  2.4-3.2  29-34  0.7-1.4  3.2 Wilt tolerant
Fuggle  3.0-5.6  1.5-2.2  29-30  0.7-1.1  3.3
Goldings  4.4-6.7  2.1-2.6  26-32  0.8-1.0  3.5
Herald (Dwarf) 11.0-13.0  2.4 37 1.0-2.2  2.4 Wilt resistant
Northern Brewer 6.5-10.0  2 23 2 2.8
Phoenix  12.0-15.0  2.1-2.6  24-28  1.2-2.5  Wilt resistant
Progress  6.0-7.5  2.8-3.3  27-36  0.5-0.8  3.3 Wilt tolerant
Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) 5.4-7.7 2.3-3.0 32-43  0.8-1.2  3.5 Wilt tolerant
Wye Challenger  6.5-8.5  1.8-2.1  20-25  1.0-1.5  3.1
Wye Northdown  6.8-9.6  1.5-2.2  24-29  1.2-2.2  2.7
Wye Target  9.9-12.6  2.2-2.8  35-39  1.2-1.4  2.4 Wilt resistant
Source:
Brewing: science and practice, by Dennis E. Briggs, Chris A. Boulton, Peter A. Brookes and Roger Stevens, 2004, page 252.


One of the two 1953 examples of Brewers Gold has an alpha acid content slightly higher than the modern upper limit – 8.8%, on a range given as 5.5% to 8%. And the Northern Brewer examples are all towards the top end when it comes to alpha acid.

More on hops soon.

1 comment:

J. Karanka said...

Pride of Kent sounds really interesting. Consistently higher Beta acids (and fairly high at that!) than Alpha acids! I wonder what that would have been like after a bit of aging.