2021 Hop Report

Poor fuggles is just about gone

 

There was a brewery here in MN that used Fuggles exclusively (closed 5 years ago or so). Not that they would of ever used enough to make an impact in demand.

 

I know that fuggles will live on in hedge rows around the world, but I would not be surprised in the least to see fuggles go extinct in the commercial fields of the pnw in the next few years.

It's probably a better candidate for cooler moister regions and I'd bet it's being worked on in the Cornell breeding program.

What surprised me the most was the degree to which Citra and mosaic have come to dominate the hops market

 

I've always associated the Fuggle hop with British ales, and when looking into its history I see that it was discovered in England. I suppose that as long as American breweries continue to brew British-style ales, there will continue to be a small demand.

But I have to wonder how many American Pale Ales use that hop? Maybe there's a dislike of Fuggle in comparison to American bittering and aroma hops and that's a significant reason the American version of that style was born?

 

My impression of fuggles is that it's an antique variety that holds a certain cultural romance for some connected to the tradition of the British isles, but that even within that brewing tradition hops like EKG and Cluster surpassed it long ago. I found a comprehensive but poorly formatted history of hops production in Ireland that I will try to track down and link, fuggles were a popular hop in that small and persistent hops market.

I think that when I saw you I mentioned the feral hop plant that a local brewer used that they believed was fuggles brought by Irish homesteaders. That's kind of my impression of fuggles, a rugged hedge row plant suited to being hauled around the world.

 

Go pilsners!

 

Randy, I am a big fan of using Czech Saaz to brew my Pilsners (e.g., Bohemian Pilsner). Do you know if you ever tasted a Pilsner brewed with American grown Saaz?

Cheers!

 

Not sure, honestly. I haven't investigated my Czech vs American Saaz. But someone is brewing with those freedom-loving Saaz!

 

In the pre-craft/post-Repeal era, Fuggles were one of the most commonly grown hop in the US, after, of course, Early and Late Clusters - grown in both Washington and Oregon, and some still in New York State. As late as 1981, there were more acres of Fuggles grown in the US (entirely in Oregon by then) than any other hop variety, other than the two big ones, Clusters and newcomer Cascade.

Yet, one doesn't read much about them in US beers except for a curious ad campaign in the mid-60s by Drewry's, by then merged into Associated Brewing Co., the 7th largest brewing company in the US.

 

Well, if you ever taste a Pilsner brewed with American grown Saaz I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Cheers!

 

Do you know what Victory has used in their Braumeister Pils? I've always loved the Saaz version but don't know the origin of the hops.

 

The hop variety they use most in brewing Braumeister Pils is Tettnanger hops which they purchase from a small hop farmer in Bavaria.

When they have brewed Braumeister Pils with Saaz I presumed those hops came from the Czech Republic but I do not specifically know about this.

Cheers!

 

Do you know then if cluster is actually older than fuggles?

 

http://beerfoodtravel.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-history-of-hop-growing-in-ireland.html?m=1

I found that history of hops in Ireland. Like I said, poorly formatted, but there's some interesting info in there

 

If I recall it right, they don't know when what came to be called Late Clusters originated or whether it was a native American hop or a cross of a native hop and a European hop, root stock for the latter brought over for early hop growers of the Colonial era. (Early Clusters were a mutation of Late Clusters, so named because of the different maturity times).

Fuggles were introduced in 1875.

I keep a list of US grown hop varieties that pre-date the "modern era". Most were probably mutations of Clusters, I'd guess.

 

Hop prices should not change much, but holy shit is malt prices going to go up. Heard malt producers are rejecting 40% of the crop because of protein and enzyme content. Most is going to cattle feed.

 

Dammit I want a Cat's Tail Pale Ale. Would it be catty?

 

JK, below is how Thomas Shellhammer (OSU) and Alfred Haunold discussed Cluster Hops in The Oxford Companion to Beer:

"It is believed to have originated from a chance (open) pollination of English Black Cluster with an American wild male probably on the east coast of the United States sometime in the late 18th Century."

So the guess is sometime in the late 1700's Cluster hops 'occurred'. Beer has been brewed in America since the 1600's (e.g., 1632 in New Amsterdam). I suppose those early Colonial American brewed beers were made with imported hops?

Cheers!