For a few short weeks between
September– November, if you’re down in a pub in Kent, Surrey, Sussex or parts
of the West Midlands such as Herefordshire and Worcestershire, the chances are you’ll come across a Green Hop Beer. This
type of beer is derived from the use of freshly picked green hops which are
brewed within hours of being harvested. Timing is critical as Beohha’s Brewhouse
notes “green hops, however, must be used as quickly as possible after picking,
and at the most within 48 hours. Otherwise, the green hops quickly lose their
unique fresh flavour and the moisture in the hops can give rise to mould.” [1]
They are also difficult to brew with as Green Hops hold more water, so a
greater yield is needed, “in general, four to eight times as many wet hops are
needed by weight as dry hops” Beohha adds. Most breweries tend to avoid brewing
with green hops for this very reason as they are not economical to produce. Yet
for those breweries who do produce these beers, they are known for their unique
floral, piney and grassy aromas, yet as a brewing compound Green Hops are quite
delicate and onerous to get right, Diane McMartin mentions “fresh hop beer takes advantage of the volatile aroma and
flavour compounds within the hop cones that normally would disappear as they’re
dried.”[2] Due
their unique flavour profiles owing to the use of fresh green hops in the brewing
process, in general Green Hop Beers showcase the distinct and unique flavours
of the various hop varieties out there, as Kent Green Hop Beers, the official
guide to the beers in the Kent region puts it “the beers have a characteristic
fresh taste because the hops used contain many of the oils that are normally
lost when hops are dried.”[3]
McMartin notes that the hop flavour in these beers tends to be softer than
beers made with dried hops, indeed Green Hops aren’t known for their bitterness
and are primarily utilized for their aroma, so sometimes a portion of recently dried
hops are sometimes used, to add bitterness. Ben Kraus, head brewer at Bridge
Road Brewers in Beechworth, Australia sums this up “the flavour you get with
most wet hop beers is very subtle and nuanced; that’s part of what happens when
we use these wet hops – we get access to these more delicate flavour and aroma
profiles.”[4]
Kraus notes that these Green Hop Beers tend to showcase the hop varieties and
capture the volatile aromas and flavour characteristics that are present for a
brief period after harvesting. It’s quite common for breweries to produce
successive Green Hop Beers derived from various hop varieties each year, for
instance Wantsum Brewery have produced beers derived from different hop
varieties including the likes of Ernest, Goldings, Fuggles, Bullion and Nelson
Sauvin; whilst Bexley Brewery have released the likes of Hukins Challenger
(4.3%), Hukins Ernest (4.3%) and Hukins Bullion (4.4%); and
most prolifically of them all, Ledbury Real Ales have released over twenty
Green Hop Beers since 2017, derived from a vast number of hop varieties as
diverse as Pilgrim, Chinook, Pioneer, First Gold and 93/50, an unusual dwarf
hop variety. Due to the subtle flavour profiles of these hops, they are seldom
brewed to a higher strength of 5% ABV or over. Although Green Hop Beers
originated in the UK, they can also be seen across the world in places like the
US, New Zealand and Australia who produce their own examples usually under different
names such as Wet Hop Beer or Fresh Hop Beer respectively. While this beer
style is seasonal and is only available for a very limited period, there is an
affection among drinkers for Green Hop Beers. To understand more about its
appeal, we need to look into hops in more detail, and the development of Green
Hop Beers as a beer style.
The Hop plant is a member of the
Cannabaceae family, which also includes Cannabis. Beohha notes “when you look
at the hop buds, they look very similar to miniature cannabis leaves and almost
appear as if someone decided to make marijuana into rabbit food!” Indeed, its
close relatives include the stinging nettle, elms, bog myrtle and hemp. Hops
tend to grow in flood plains and fens, and can be found in temperate parts of
Northern Europe, although it has been to known to grow as far north as Scandinavia,
along with parts of the Mediterranean. Hops are a perennial plant than can live
up to 20 years or more, yet Ian Hornsey notes “although classified as a
perennial, only the rootstock that has this characteristic, since the aerial
parts die back following the flowering season.”[5]
Hornsey adds that hops can climb up to a height of 6m and is dioecious, which
means it contains male and female organs on separate plants. Hops flower
between July – August and towards the end of the period they are ripe for
picking, Hornsey states “from a brewer’s point of the view, the useful part of
the hop plant is the female cone which contain all the required compounds.”
These compounds include the bitterness, aromas, flavours and mouthfeel that are
necessary for the brewing process, furthermore hops are a natural preservative
which helps lengthen the freshness of a beer.
Hops are usually dried after harvesting and can last for a year or more
if stored correctly. Moreover, Hops have a preservative element that enable
beers to stay fresh for longer and maintain it’s flavour profiles without going
off too soon, it was this feature that propelled the production of hopped beer in the first place. Although hops have been used in brewing as far back as 822AD, it wasn’t until
the 14th century when brewers fully capitalised on the use of hops
in brewing, as Susan Vertberg notes “this balance tipped in favour of hops when
it became possible to export hopped beer.” [6]
With the increasing prospects of foreign
and overseas markets opening up, it made economic sense to use Hops in brewing rather than other herbs like Bog Myrtle and Gruit, since Hops enabled beers to keep fresher for longer which was essential for long distance exports. Hop cultivation first arrived in the UK in
1524, when Dutch farmers established the first hop garden in the Maidstone
area. Despite initial setbacks, hop growing soon grew rapidly in the UK and by
1655, Martyn Cornell notes “hops were being grown in at least 14 English
counties, including Somerset, though Kent accounted for a third of the total
crop.”[7]
Hop cultivation soon spread to the West Midlands, in places like Herefordshire
and Worcestershire, by the 19th century Cornell notes that hop
fields been seen as far north as Scotland, and in parts of Wales, although the
industry in those parts ultimately declined, and today hop cultivation is
primarily consigned to the south-eastern counties of England and parts of the
West Midlands. During the height of the hop industry in the UK, several varieties
of Hops became dominant including Goldings, a long-established variety that was
first grown in Kent during the late 18th century; Brambling, an
early variety of Goldings, first discovered in 1865, named after a hamlet near
Canterbury; and Fuggles which was developed by Richard Fuggle of Brenchley,
Kent in 1875. Although the hop industry in this country has vastly dwindled in
size from its height in the late 19th century, today there are 34 British
Hop varieties currently growing in hop-fields situated around the UK, each with
their own unique characteristics, which enables brewers to showcase the
flavours and aromas of these hops through the production of Green Hop Beer.
The earliest recorded example of
a commercial Green Hop Beer dates from 1992, when Wadworth Brewery released Malt
‘n’ Hops (4.5%) which they developed conjunction with Trevor Holmes from
Brewlab. Brian Yorston notes that Holmes “came up with the concept after a
visit to a hop yard where he wondered what a beer would taste like using fresh
hops.”[8]
Malt ‘n’ Hops was brewed using freshly harvested Early Bird Goldings Hops,
using a combination of dried hops (kilned on the previous day) and wet hops
picked on the day of brewing. Since the brewery was not local to a hop field,
Yorston describes the breakneck process where a Wadworth employee would collect
the hops at 6am that morning and return to the brewery in Denvies ready for
brewing at 9:30am, where he notes “the fresh green hops are added in two
stages. A proportion of hops is added 15 minutes from the end of the boil
whilst the rest are added to the hop back (hop tea) prior to wort addition.” This
beer proved to be a game changer and soon other breweries around the UK were
brewing and releasing their own small batch Green Hop Beers for local festivals
and pubs, including Hop Nouvelle (4.1%) by Teme Valley Brewery which was
launched in 1997 and continues to be sold seasonally to this day, making it the
longest running Green Hop Beer still in production within the UK. Word about
this new beer style soon spread to US, one of the earliest notable examples was
Harvest Ale (6.7%) a punchy wet hop IPA by Sierra Nevada Brewery that was first released in 1996, the inspiration for this beer came about from a meeting between brew-master Steven
Dresler and hop merchant Gerard Lemmens. Dresler recalls “he explained to me
that in the United Kingdom sometimes small breweries would do special wet hop
beers for festivals and that they would get hop aroma and oil qualities that
were just off the charts, compared with kilned hops.”[9]
Inspired by this, Dresler developed his first wet hop beer later that Autumn using a
combination of wet Centennial and Cascade hops, which the late Michael Jackson
(of CAMRA fame) described having a touch of malty sweetness, followed by a
surge of cleansing, resiny, zesty flavours with an astonishing late bitterness;
the beer continues to be sold till this day in cask and bottle, although under
a different name as Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale.
Since the early 2000’s, the rate
of Green Hop Beers released by breweries has vastly increased. Breweries based in
the traditional hop growing regions of the West Midlands and the south east
have produced their own examples, including the likes of McCann’s, Goachers,
Northdown, Ledbury Real Ales, Musket, Hobsons, Canterbury Ales, Gadd’s, Mad
Cat, Gun, Tonbridge, The Hop Shed, Shepherd Neame and Wantsum to name a few. Some
of these breweries have their own dedicated hop-fields, such as Green T.E.A.
(4.2%) by Hog’s Back Brewery based in Tongham, a variation of their flagship
Tongham T.E.A. (4.2%) that uses fresh green Fuggles Hops harvested from
their hop garden situated a few hundred yards from their brewery. Due to the
limited seasonality of Green Hop Beers, they have rarely gained honours on the
festival circuit; occasionally though, there have been award winners, such as Green
Hop Best (4%) by Larkins Brewery in Chiddingstone, which was first produced in
2013, and is sourced from hops on their own nearby four acre hop-field. It has
managed to carve out a reputation in the local region and gained the coveted “Champion
Beer of the Festival” award at the Spa Valley Railway Beer Festival in 2014. Another
example is Southdown Harvest (5%) a premium bitter by Harvey’s Brewery in
Lewes which is based on a recipe that use three different types of hops and
malts in the mix in order to produce a biscuity, tangy like bitterness. The beer has won
multiple awards, scooping a Silver at the International Beer Challenge 2021,
and a Diploma at the British Bottlers Institute the same year. The writer Emma Inch described
it as an ideal food pairing with roasted vegetables, stating “the green hop
grassiness provides brightness to lift the dish, and just enough hop bitterness
to cut through each spoonful of that creamy dip.”[10]
Occasionally there have been cases of
breweries situated outside the traditional hop growing regions who have released their
own Green Hop Beers, such as Mr Fuggles (4.5%) produced by Atlantic
Brewery in St Columb, Cornwall; Fuggle Rock (4%) by Red Rock Brewery in
Burlescombe, Devon; Harvest Muse (4%) by Small World Beers in Shelley,
West Yorkshire; and Organic Green Hop Pale Ale (3.6%) by Futtle in St Monans,
Fife. Moreover, a number of breweries around London have produced Green Hop
Beers, including the likes of Green Hop (3.7%) by Five Points in Hackney;
Walthamstow Green Hopped Pale Ale (4.6%) by the East London Brewing Co.
in Lea Bridge; Hukins Bullion (4.4%) and Hukins Ernest (4.3%) by
Bexley Brewery in Erith. Mark Dredge notes “the base beers are typically pale
ales; light in colour and without too much malty backbone so the hops take
centre stage and really show off their fresh aromas.”[11]
Green Hop Beers tend to be brewed as Bitters, Pale or Golden Ales, although on
some occasions they have appeared as IPA’s and darker ales, a notable example
being Green & Black (4.2%) by Cantebury Ales, which is a rare
example of a stout brewed with Green Hops.
Although Green Hop Beers are
limited their seasonality and their brief availability between September – November.
They can be found in a number of real ale pubs in the West Midlands and the south-eastern
counties; a slew of beer festivals also showcases these beers including the
Faversham Hop Festival and Canterbury Beer Festival in September respectively,
and the Spa Valley Railway Beer Festival in October. Although the majority of
Green Hop Beers that are produced are only sold on cask, a number of breweries
in the UK also sell these beers in bottles and cans including the likes of Five
Points, Moor, Harvey’s, Wantsum, Teme Valley, Musket, Gadd’s, Bexley, Hobsons,
Goody Ales, Bexley, Cellar Head and East London Brewing Co. for example, which enables drinkers to sample them at any point in the year. Overall, at this time of
year, sampling a Green Hop beer is a memorable opportunity that is not to be
missed, indeed as Mark Dredge rightly describes “it's only once a year, in a
short timeframe, that green-hopped beers can be brewed, making this the
ultimate seasonal beer and celebration of the English hop harvest.” So, if you
happen to be down a pub situated in a hop growing region at the moment, visiting
a brewery or browsing an extensive range of beers at a beer festival, why not
sample a Green Hop Beer and savour those distinct hop flavours, along with the fresh,
piney and grassy aromas that are unique to green hops utilized in the brewing
process.
References
[1]
“Brewing a Green Hop Special Bitter” by Beohha’s Brewhouse, 25th
January 2021
[2]
“Fresh Hop Beer” by Diane McMartin, Gastro Obscura
[3] “About
Kent Green Hop Beer” by Kent Green Hop Beer
[4]
“Fourteen Years of Fresh Hop Beers” by Will Zibell, Crafty Pint, 16th
March 2022
[5]
“Brewing” by Ian S. Hornsey, Royal Society of Chemistry Books, 1999
[6]
“From Herbal to Hopped Beer” by Susan Verberg, Brewery History Society, December
2020
[7] “A
Short History of Hops” by Martyn Cornell, Zythophile, 20th November
2009
[8]
“Green Hop Beer” by Brian Yorston, Brewlab, 14th August 2020
[9] “The Fresh Flavours of Wet Hop Ales” by Heather Vandenengel, All About Beer, 14th November 2014
[10] “Southdown
Harvest” by Emma Inch, Harveys
[11] “Autumn
ales: the season of fresh hops” by Mark Dredge, The Guardian, 5th
October 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment