ALL GRAIN BEER

Viking (aka Wye Viking) is a pleasant aroma hop with good resistance to mildew. It was bred at Wye College and is the sister to Saxon. High myrcene and farnesene. Viking is poor yielding and its vigor is fair to poor. Its storage stability is good, retaining 70% of AAU after 6 months.

Canadian Redvine, with its dense and profuse rhizomes, high vigor, excellent yield, and disease resistance makes it seem like a good bet, but it has a very harsh aftertaste which has made producers give it a bye. Very low alpha and high cohumulone together is not a great combo. However, it is sometimes mixed with other hops to provide a bit of a zing to them, and is often used to plant quickly if there is a disease disaster because it can be sown late. Its exact parentage is unknown but from its name, it likely originated in Canada.

Spalter Select was bred for its high yield potential to replace Spalt. These efforts were quite successful. Spalter Select has low alpha acids and low cohumulone making a nice noble aroma style hop. It was bred from Spalter crossed with Hallertauer Mittelfrüher and retains some of the finer characteristics of both, making it like a slightly spicier version of Spalt. Anheuser Busch replaced both Spalter and Tettnanger with Spalter Select.

Hallertauer Mittelfrüher is one of the original Hallertau-varieties, stemming from an old German landrace. Its lightly flowery and spicy aroma is what has contributed to the well-known “Noble Aroma,” and indeed, this is one of the original four “noble” varieties. In the last 50 years it has been steadily declining, primarily due to its grave susceptibility to German verticulum wilt and poor yield. It has been used to create many offspring, most of which are more tolerant to the wilt. It is now only grown on one farm in Germany. Despite its characteristics, if you love brewing lagers, it just might be worth trying this variety to find out why it was classified as one of the Noble Aroma hops.

Perle was bred in the Hüll project from an English Northern Brewer. There seems to be a difference of opinion as to Perle’s aroma characteristics—European breweries claiming that Perle is much like and a good substitute for Mittelfrüher, while U.S. and Japanese breweries disagree with that assessment. It may be due to the alpha acid difference in content between the various places where it is grown: Germany averaging 8.5% while in the U.S. it can get up to 11%. Perle is said to have a pleasant aroma with hints of spice.

Golding (US) hops are descended from the original East Kent Golding. They have been used widely in English beers for a long time, and the typical, classic English hops aromas are Goldings. In North America, they were first grown in British Columbia, but they have been grown in Washington and Oregon since 1993, and no longer in Canada. Golding-type hops varieties are prolific in the U.S. The use is primarily in English-style Ales, although it has wide use in barley wines and Belgian Ales as well. It’s relatively low alpha acids lend themselves to the delicate aroma. Goldings are low yielding, susceptible to disease, and difficult to harvest, but their typical English aroma and high storage stability (up to 80% in some tests) keep it popular.

Brewer’s Gold (US) is a cultivar of Brewer’s Gold with excellent yield and high alpha potential. It has excellent vigor, but poor storage stability. Its alpha acid content is an average of 9.7% and its ratio with beta acids is 2:1. It has high cohumulone at 41%, but is said to be a good extract hop. It was discontinued from commercial growth in the US in 1991, but should still be available for the craft and homebrewer’s market.

A truly bizzaro hop. Released in 2006 by researchers at Oregon State University’s USDA laboratory,  the goal was to breed a hop with low alpha acids and high beta acids, which impart aroma but no bitterness.

Beta acids are naturally antibacterial. Thus the hops have many used beyond brewing. This includes animal feed additives and naturopathic remedies for people.

In the beer world, there has little acceptance… so far. The one commercial example is Widmer Brother’s Teaser IPA. Teamaker hops are said to add floral bouquet and “iced tea” flavors without contributing to the bitterness.

It is said that the only reason that Vojvodina has not yet been taken up by the industry is because its name is hard to pronounce. Its traits seem very promising as a high alpha, high yielding variety. It would make a great dual use hop due to its mild bittering properties as well as a woody aroma with notes of cedar and tobacco. It is the offspring of Northern Brewer and has some of the noble aroma characteristics of Northern Brewer, but is more intense.

Fuggle (UK) traces its ancestry back to the original Fuggle. It is an aroma hop with a very high humulene content as well as high caryophyllene and farnesene. It is in popular demand; its parent was the cornerstone for English brewing for a very long time, but it has given way to this sibling.