Lesson 3 - Hop Biology and Cultivation SAQ

** What would be the pros and cons of shortening a hop breeding program from around 10 years to just a few years?

Response:

The extended hop breeding program ensures that any new hop variety meets the hop growers’ needs of both quality and yield. It also makes hops less susceptible to any of the common diseases or pests. Extensive testing is conducted over iterative stages, to ensure that new hop varieties can handle various agronomic conditions, as well as testing their resistance to various diseases and how well they will handle machine harvesting. From a brewing perspective, each new variety is tested on its bittering potential and aroma profile via laboratory analysis.  Later in the programme, the hops are actually used in brewing trials, to see how they perform from a bittering and aromatic perspective. By the time the hop variety has been approved, there is a high level of confidence that the hop plant will perform well – for both hop growers and brewers. The downside to this is that it takes time to bring in a new variety, and brewing trends may have changed in that time period (moving from bittering to aroma hops (or vice versa), or a specific flavour profile has become more fashionable).

By shortening the breeding period, hop breeders can closely follow brewers’ demands for flavour and/or bittering, reacting quickly to the latest trends. The risk is that the resulting hops may not be resistant to pests and diseases and may have low yields. However, due to the changing demands of the brewers, having resistance may not be a priority. This is because by the time it becomes an issue, the brewers may already want a new variety. The cost of low yields may be balanced out by charging higher amounts for a niche product.