OnTap Magazine

THE MODERN BRITISH HOPS Growers had been investing in hop breeding for a century but the focus had always been to produce more of the same, but with better agronomy. The process is very slow, taking at least 15 years from seed to first commercial harvest, whereas brewers are demanding new, exciting varieties on an annual basis. The hop breeding program at Charles Faram – a grower-owned merchant – was born out of their search for new aromas and enabled by their close links with growers. Peter Glendinning, a Research Agronomist, long established in the hop industry, had been identifying interesting off-type plants, collecting self-seeded volunteer plants growing in commercial hop yards. Peter had identified the Cascade hop as being a good parent, itself of Fuggle descent. Crosses with a UK male hop were made and the resultant seed was planted and the seedlings put through disease screening, with the best females taken forward. This cross produced Jester ® and Olicana ® , both very interesting and notably different varieties. Jester ® displayed the agronomic benefits of its mother, whilst giving brewers aromas of citrus and stone-fruit, with some blackcurrant. An interesting plant to grow, it is described as semi-tall, displaying some of the habits of a low trellis variety, the plant grows its lateral shoots whilst it is growing up, meaning it looks a little like a Christmas tree. This habit, when grown on conventional wirework 16 feet high, allows sunshine to penetrate down to much lower down the bine than usual, allowing Jester ® to ‘hop down’ well, with cones spread evenly down the bines. This makes it easier to pick and results in a good yield. Olicana ® was selected by brewers even at the single plant stage. A more vigorous, true tall variety, it tends to crop in the top third of the bine. This is not unusual and can make hop picking more difficult and lead to shattering of some cones. In greenhouse tests it proved susceptible to powdery mildew so there was some hesitance to release it into commercial production. But in plot trials on farms, it demonstrated good ‘field tolerance’ to powdery mildew so growers persevered, planting up additional acreage. The vigour of Olicana ® means it requires less fertiliser inputs than traditional varieties. Godiva ® is a daughter of Jester ® . A semi- tall with impressive drought resistance, it also copes extremely well with reduced fertiliser and pesticide inputs. It is extremely clean to brew with, producing mandarin orange and some white grape aromas and flavours. As a result, it has proven popular in dry-hopped lagers and ales. Harlequin ® , a grand-daughter of Jester ® , is the latest new variety. It has a total oil content almost twice that of most British varieties, and is really proving itself in breweries, where it is being used in many different styles including hop-forward NEIPAs. Peach, passionfruit and pineapple are all abundant, and it bears comparison with other ‘New World’ varieties. And of course, the mere comparison to “New World” hops is something nobody had ever expected to be said of a hop variety grown in the UK. Godiva Harlequin Jester Pridewood 20 | Spring 2023 | ontapmag.co.za