What's Cooking in the USDA's Hop Kitchen? A Conversation with Head Hopster Dr. John Henning



Dr. John Henning

In Part 1, we talked about a proposal for creating a royalty-sharing program that could help strengthen the public’s hop breeding and research program.

In Part 2, we’ll take a look at what’s happening down in Corvallis at the USDA-ARS hop breeding and genetics program, which is run by Dr. John Henning. Dr. Henning has been managing the hop program since 1998 (CHECK THIS!).1996.

I called up Dr. Henning who was kind enough to give me a snapshot of what’s cooking. First, and this is cool, Dr. Henning reported that despite a shrinking budget he has about 50 crosses and 40,000 seedlings for this years breeding nursery. Within that “gene pool” he has a “seedless” Perle derivative, as yet unnamed, that has shown promise. Because of a downey powdery mildew invasion in the USDA greenhouses in Corvalliswhere his material was being evaluated a few years ago, most of his genetic material has been moved to WSU greenhouses in Pullman,located in Washington.

Dr. Henning is very excited about the “in kind” support the USDA has been receiving from farmers. The partnership has allowed him to “ramp up” the intensity of his benchwork research on crossing, propagating and selecting promising hop lines, without having to manage greenhouse and field trial operations. Unlike the Indie Hops-OSU breeding program, Dr. Henning’s focus is on both aroma and super alpha development, no small order.

I was curious about the process for “checking out” public and experimental hop varieties from the USDA germplasm repository in Corvallis. The repository contains clones of about 200 public varieties and 100 experimental lines. To be sure, unlike a public library, you can’t just walk in ask for rhizomes for your backyard garden. The purpose of the repository is to collect, preserve and distribute hop material to foster research.

Here’s a few questions I posed to Dr. Henning about the “in kind” support paradigm, the inside scoop on his Perle brainchild, and the stuff that keeps him motivated and up at night.

RGW: I just want to make sure I have this down right. The USDA does not supply germplasm to farmers for testing; rather, you provide rhizomes, or plantlets to select farmers who then propagate and grow them out? Does anyone outside of the parties who sign the MTA [Material Transfer Agreement] have knowledge of what's being tested or where?

JH: The USDA-ARS breeding program provides rhizomes of experimental lines directly to a grower or growers who are under contract (Material Transfer Agreement) to grow out said experimental lines for “On-Farm trials.” These growers are chosen by the respective State Hop Commissions (OHC and WHC) and Hop Research Council (HRC) to perform this function. Funding is typically provided the grower(s) to recompense them for their costs—in most cases this is around $6000 per acre. In all cases, State Commissions and members of Hop Research Council (HRC )(FOOTNOTE1) are fully aware of what experimental lines are put into those trials.

HRC members and State Commissions have made specific requests regarding which experimental lines they would like to see sponsored in “On-Farm” trials. USDA-ARS can also suggest experimental lines if not included on the list of lines HRC or State Commissions select for advanced testing. Finally, The USDA-National Clonal Germplasm Repository does not provide any experimental lines to growers, merchants, brewers or other researchers unless specifically requested by myself. Typically, this is done in cases where researchers from different countries and breeding programs have agreed to germplasm exchanges of important material. It is in this fashion that USDA-ARS was able to obtain true dwarf hop germplasm for genetic and breeding research—by agreeing to provide pollen from USDA-ARS hop male lines that were not released as well as a few publically released hop varieties such as Teamaker and Newport.

RGW: So you don’t hand pick the farmers for testing experimental lines?

JH: Correct. I don’t pick the growers. I use both WA and OR growers and these growers are selected by their respected State Hop Commissions and the HRC.

RGW: Can you tell us more about the Triploid Perle you’re working on? Has anyone pilot brewed with it?

JH: The information on Triploid Perle is contained within the HRC yellow book reports. The triploid Perle line is a true seedless hop, which is highly desirable as Perle is normally a prolific seed producer. It has somewhat of a higher alpha at 11-12 % with beta acids around 4- 5 %. Yields for this line are tremendous—potentially on par with some of the “supers” that are out there. In addition, it’s high in essential oils that give floral and citrus notes. Finally, it has oil content exceeding 1.5 ml per 100g of dried cone. OSU’s Fermentation Science program is the only “micro brewery” to pilot brew with it. I’m sure others would love to experiment with it but I only have had hops from a single plant at the moment. After tasting the single hop brew that Tom Shellhammer (OSU) made, several breweries have expressed an interest in it. Unfortunately, I went from a single hill to multi-hill plots in 2011 and plants were in their baby year last year. There should be sufficient hop this upcoming harvest for multiple pilot brews by HRC members. It’s being grown on 40 hill plots in both Oregon and Washington. These plots are being sponsored (financially) by HRC.

RGW: You read about the number of Oregon hop farmers declining over the past few decades. What are your ideas for keeping the Oregon hop industry vibrant?

JH: My mandate from Congress is to for keep theing USA hop industry vibrant, not just Oregon. With that in mind, my best contribution would be to continue developing superior germplasm and cultivars that allow US growers to outperform other nations and make a finished beer that tastes better than beer made from hops from other regions of the world. With this said, Oregon growers have been particularly hurt by the surplus of ‘Willamette’ that was grown in the past and which was stored. This surplus has resulted in a significant drop in acreage (6000 to 3000) that has not been replaced by another line yet.

As you know, Willamette is susceptible to fungal pathogens and a replacement is needed for growers and brewers. The USDA-ARS and WSU are working closely with HRC brewery members to develop and release a disease resistant, higher yielding aroma hop as a replacement for Willamette. It is highly likely that a new public hop variety (Such as Mt. Rainier or the Triploid Perle) will be chosen to replace Willamette when inventory of Willamette is used up. If this occurs, we would most likely see a dramatic improvement and vibrancy of the Oregon Hop industry, as well as in Washington and Idaho (both of which groew Willamette).

RGW: What research topics most invigorate you? What are you most passionate about? What's your "dream legacy?"

JH: That’s a tough question!! I’m multi-faceted in what invigorates me and gets me passionate. I would love to have the legacy that Dr. Haunold obtained by developing superior hop varieties that are grown to a great extent throughout USA. At the same time, I’m striving towards developing molecular marker systems that would enable breeders to be more precise in selection as well as speed up the selection process. Finally, I’m striving towards working with other renowned hop scientists to completely sequence the hop genome. To achieve all three of these goals would be my “dream legacy.”

RGW: What's the story on Mt. Raineer, which you released in 2006?in 2008? Who's growing it? What was your target or objective in developing the cross? What was the production in Oregon on Raineer last year, if you know?

JH: Mt. Rainier is a fine hop that hasn’t taken off yet. I see it as a victim of outside circumstances—mainly issues of supply and demand in nature. Just prior to the release of Mt. Rainier, there were two years of crop failures. This was followed by a dramatic increase in planting new hops (including Willamette here in USA and Halletauer Mittelfrue in Germany). The result of this dramatic increase in hop plantings resulted in a significant oversupply of hops and hop products. Mt. Rainier was released right after this huge oversupply of hops occurred and there was very little demand for hops--new or old. The production and distribution of Mt. Rainier was also hampered by the appearance of hop stunt viroid in 2008. To make a long story short, it was entered into the Clean Plant Network as soon as possible and if I’m not mistaken, will become available this year for limited distribution of cuttings. While it was in on-farm trials at John Annen’s [FOOTNOTE 2] farm (5 AC), it was distributed to several craft brewers.

From the limited responses I received back, it was viewed as an excellent hop on par with, and similar to, true Halletauer Mittelfrue grown in Germany. Unfortunately, there was a huge oversupply of Halletauer Mittelfrue that was being sold for ~$1.50 lb and brewers saw no reason to pay $3.50/lb for Mt. Rainier when they could buy Halletauer for $1.50/lb. When Mt Rainier was growing in the 5 AC plot at John Annen, he regularly obtained 12 bales per ac. He barely had to spray for downy mildew and never had to spray for powdery mildew. My target in developing this hop variety was one of developing an aroma line that was somewhat higher in alpha acids and was disease resistant with excellent yields and good pickability.

RGW: What is your worst fear about the future of Oregon hop f harm farming -- in terms of disease or pest invasion? What are you doing to anticipate and prevent major catastrophes? (Now that's a tall order!)

JH: In some sense, it’s already occurred. The hop stunt viroid has the potential for making hop farming extremely difficult both here in OR as well as WA and ID.

Furthermore, the potential advent of hop powdery mildew races that are “male AND female” as opposed to “either male OR female” and capable of mixing up genes from several races in the Pacific Northwest may make breeding hop lines resistant to powdery mildew extremely challenging. What this means is that new races of powdery mildew can arise quickly and overcome current plant resistance in hops found in such lines as Nugget or Newport.

Currently, I’m working on identifying molecular markers that will aid in selection for experimental lines that are resistant to both powdery and downy mildews. Once identified, these markers will help speed up the selection process as well as increase the accuracy of selection. I work closely with Dr. David Gent (USDA-ARS Plant Pathologist) in screening new breeding material for experimental lines that are resistant or highly tolerant to both pathogens. This is time-consuming, labor intensive and expensive doing things the old fashioned way—inoculate with the disease and visually chose resistant lines. We’ve had some success in developing new experimental lines that appear to have better “resistance packages” than currently grown varieties. These lines are working their way through the “breeding cycle” which can take upwards of 10 years before public release.

RGW – Thanks John. You’ve got a full plate. Naturally, I’m worried that hop research is being underfunded. I’ll take a look at the public funding of table and wine grapes, as an analogue to hops. My cursory research shows that the USDA-ARS budget for grapes has actually been increasing over the past few years, and is now up to over $15 million, with $2 millon dedicated to grape breeding and genetics alone. As we discussed in the last blog, the total USDA-ARS budget for hops is around $750,000, with only a fraction of that available for actual programmatic research.

I think it’s time to apply political pressure. A hearty collection of diseases could wipe out entire crops, and we haven’t even talked about pests. To keep up with an ever-changing battery of pests and diseases, we need a strong federal hops research program. And the last thing this industry needs is a concentration of breeding, growing, and processing muscle in one place. Wine grapes, for example, are grown in dozens of states and the USDA allocates funding to research facilities in 7 states.

More to come.

RGW
May 18, 2012

FOOTNOTE 1. Hop Research Council members include two craft brewers, Boston Beer and Sierra Nevada, and “industrials” such as Anheuser-Busch-Inbev, Heineken and Miller Coors. The HRC hop dealers include: Hopunion, Haas, Steiner, and Yakima Chief.

FOOTNOTE 2. John Annen is the Chair of the Oregon Hop Commission, which was created in 1964 to protect, serve and enhance the Oregon hop industry, as well as a hop grower and owner of Annen Farms.

Indie Hops Organics Update: 2012 Will Be a Big Year for the Big O

Organic hops got a boost recently when the USDA ruled that beers labeled “organic” must use organic hops by January 1, 2013. Many brewers are concerned that the organic supply will fall short of the demand. Here’s an update on what IH is doing to help supply and enhance that demand.

Indie Hops began growing organic hops last year. At Goschie Farms, we currently have 12 acres established on acreage that will be certified organic for the 2012 harvest. Of those acres, ten (10) are Cascades and two (2) are Centennial. Last year, an abnormally long and wet Spring triggered a downy mildew breakout. Fortunately, the DM spores did not strike our organic fields. Whew!

We will be planting additional acreage in 2011 on Goschie Farms as follows:

3.2 acres Centennial
3 acres Newport (15% AA, 50% Magnum parentage, CoH 38, 2.0 oil, good storage, Resistant to DM)
3 acres Perle (9% AA, 28 coH, 1.1 oil, very good storage, resistant to DM)
1 acre Fuggle (6% AA, 27 CoH, .6 oil, DM Tolerant)

All of the above varieties from our 22.2 total organic acreage will be available in 2012. Our pellet mill will also be certified organic for converting the 2012 harvest into pellets. We are pleased to note that organic hops won’t need to be trucked from Oregon farms to Yakima to be pelleted and then trucked back to Oregon brewers. Our Big O hops will be both green and greenhouse friendly.

Low Trellis, High Plant Strength

Gayle Goschie, our hop whisperer, is excited about her decision to string the organic hops on a low trellis. Organic hops face all sorts of disease and pest pressures. The best bulwark against nasty invaders is a healthy plant with a strong root system (and of course a monsoon-free spring!)

By using low trellis, we will not cut the bines at the base during harvest. The picker will strip the cones and leaves from the sidearms, but let the remaining “stripped hop skeleton” live on for another two months. During that time, the nutrients and carbohydrates in the bines will continue to nourish the root system, making for a hardier plant the following season. When the bines dry out, they will be cleared.

Hope Springs Eternal but Cross Fingers

2010 was a wet year – Biblically wet. Add moisture and warmth to soil and you have a fertile soup for mildew. Last year, we waited until mid-May for the ground to dry up before planting our Cascades and Centennials. The strategy paid off, as so far our fields look great, with the caveat that our vigilance must step up as the rains begin to recede in the Willamette Valley as the sun breaks out and the soil warms up.

To be safe, we will be planting our additional ten organic acres (Centennial, Perle, Newport and Fuggle) also in mid May. At present, our wonder weeds are getting stronger in a cool greenhouse. Later on we’ll transfer them a shade house before planting in the ground.

We’re optimistic, but crossing our fingers, toes and legs that the Spring will be dry enough so that Gayle “the Hoptomist” can walk the fields and spot treat any pest or mildew sightings. Last Spring was so wet Gayle couldn't get her tractors out to aerate the soil as often as she wanted.

One thing’s for sure, we’ll have plenty of pretty photos of our organic yards this summer. Between the hop rows Gayle will be planting vetch, an excellent nitrogen-fixing legume that bears lovely lavender flowers.

The Price is Right, We Think

The first question brewers are asking is whether the variety they want will be available. The second question is how much more will they cost than conventional hops?

We chose the varieties that we think have good disease resistance (Centennial will be the biggest challenge) and strong demand by brewers. We confess that we struggled with how to price our future organic hops. Clearly, the establishment and production costs have been greater than conventional crops. It takes three years for the acreage to transition from conventional to organic. Because of the pest and disease threats, the yields will likely be significantly lower. And processing will be more labor extensive, as well need to purge our clean, green pellet mill of any conventional hop residue.

So what do we do? How about, hmmm, the honest and right thing? We talked to both our grower and to potential brewer customers. In the end, we decided on an adjustable formula that ties the price to the yield. The higher the yield, the lower the price. On the flipside, after setting a fixed maximum price, the lower the yield, the higher the price.

We’re All in this Together

Our philosophy in setting the price is simple: we’re all in this together. This is a time of transition. Organics are no longer a fad, as consumers have begun to embrace the environmental and health benefits of synthetics-free foods. But to get to that point where the price gap between organic and non-organic hops narrows, the farmers will need to get it right. That takes time, trial and error, persistence and luck.

Here’s what we came up with: a maximum “worst case scenario” price per pound has been set at $18.00. That way a brewer knows that even in an extremely low yield situation there is a ceiling to what they need to pay for organic hops. The table below shows the price decreases as yields go up. Hey.... those prices look better than conventional hop prices during recent years!

Our agreement with the farm is that revenue from organic hop sales will first go toward covering the farms costs of organically cultivating the 20+ acres of hops. Once the farms costs are covered, the sales go toward covering the smaller IH direct costs of processing and handling. With direct costs covered for both parties, any additional sales revenue will be split 50/50 since we have shared the costs of establishing the organic acreage over the four years prior to the first certified organic harvest.

Yield per Acre (lbs.)     Wholesale Price/lb.
Less than 750 lbs.             $18.00
750-849 lbs.                     $17.50
850-999 lbs.                     $17.00
1000-1199 lbs.                 $16.00
1200-1399 lbs.                 $15.00
1400-1599 lbs.                 $14.00
1600 and above                $13.00

Brewers interested in planning ahead for some of their organic hops needs are encouraged to come visit this year to see the progress of the crop themselves. We also encourage you to contract ahead for greater security of supply.

We of course remain encouraged by Gayle’s optimism. We’re also buoyed by the slow but steady progress by “chemical companies” to ramp up production on organic compounds to control the undesirable pests, weeds and mildews.

Let's raise a pint to insecticidal soaps, fish oils, garlic extracts, biopesticides and plant and soil boosters! May the salubrious lady bugs and the pernicious aphids find a happy balance. As for mildew, can we please have more sun and less rain this Spring? And, if not, a note to the nasty mildew spores: may Gayle find you and give you a farewell squirt of hot copper.

RGW
4/2/2011

For an excellent article on the challenges faced by organic hop growers, please read the April 2011 issue of The New Brewer, “ New Rules for Organic Hops: Time is of essence for brewers, growers.” Click here.

Hoptalk with Hopmeister Al, Part IX

Aromas? Yes. But Can the Willamette Valley Handle Dual Purpose Heavies Like Centennial, Horizon and Chinook?

If the Willamette Valley is renown for its aroma hops and Yakima Valley for it’s high alpha, where do “dual purpose” hops fit in? Since most mid to high alpha hops hail from Yakima, does that mean they don’t or wouldn’t thrive in Oregon?

First, a bit of background.

“Dual purpose” is a term of art that first emerged in the mid 1990s, about the time that our hopmeister Dr. Al was hanging up his cover-alls and putting away his clipboard. “We never used that term,” recalled Al.

All Purpose Cluster

“Actually, when I first came to the industry in 1965, brewers talked about three major categories of hops. Aromas, high alphas, and general kettle hops. The latter referred mostly to Cluster hops, such as Early Cluster, California Cluster, Yakima Cluster, and Late Cluster. All of these were virtually indistinguishable by quality characteristics. They differed only by their maturity and harvest dates. California Cluster seemed to rank above the others for reasons that I never quite understood.“

The industrial brewers, continued Al, “reluctantly” used Clusters, since they were cheap, easily available, and supplied generic bitterness to their beer. “They boiled the heck out of those Clusters to get every drop of bitterness,” Al laughed, “and then finished it off with an aroma or general kettle hop.”

By the mid 1970s, the emphasis shifted. “General kettle hops” went the way of the Do-Do as the Big Boys simplified the choice between aroma and high alpha. It wasn’t until the 1990s, that a third party re-emerged, this time at the urging of the craft brewers, who demanded the best from both worlds -- hops that could be used for bittering and European style aroma. Thus was born the utility or “dual purpose” hop.

Perle the Pioneer

The closest thing to a “dual purpose” in Al’s hey day was Perle. When grown in Oregon, which is lower in latitude than its home-hopyard in Germany, Perle alpha averaged around 10-11% AA, which back in the day came pretty close to the high water mark for alpha hops.

To qualify as a noble aroma, however, a hop needed to have storagability similar to the classic old-time aromas such as Hallertauer mittelfrueh, Tettnanger or Saazer. A hop’s storagability, explains Al, is an index for measuring the life a hop’s original alpha acid content.

When kept in non-refrigerated space, the land race aroma hop often lost nearly half of their original alphas. Consequently, they were considered to be “poor keepers.” Is that a bad thing? No, says Al. “The loss of original alpha does not mean that the bittering potential had decreased by a comparable amount. Experienced brewers recognized that when alpha acids degraded, the resulting compounds could still offer bittering, even though those new metabolite compounds couldn’t be assayed by a routine alpha analysis.”

Which to me sounds like hops, like wine, can age with grace. Instead of evaporating down to nothing, the hop oils and acids instead can generate new downstream compounds.

Whether a hop is a good, fair or poor keeper is really a message to the grower on the level of TLC that will be required to preserve the best of the good stuff. Why? Because mishandling a hop during or after harvest compounds the natural loss or degradation of alpha acids. How is that measured? It isn’t. To know whether a hop has been handled, you need to know the skill, patience and infrastructure of your grower, as well as your supplier.

Let’s go back full circle to Perle. Perle’s “good” storagability made it too good to hang with the “poor keeper” nobles. In the brewing process, Perle acted more like a high alpha hop than a finicky, thin skinned and easily bruised noble.

Dual Purpose: Good Keepers

Nowadays, in addition to having fair to good storagability, dual purpose hops are generally about twice as high in alpha than nobles, with about twice the total oils. Signature examples are Centennial (11-14% AA, 2.5 oil ml/100g) and Horizon (12-14% AA, 2.0 oil), the latter being another one of Dr. Al’s hop creations (released in 1998 after Al retired).

Newport (15% AA, 2.0 oil) and Chinook (13-15%, 1.8 oil) are two more popular bittering hops with aroma characteristics, both of which Dr. Al struggles to classify as “dual purpose.” “I was approached by Miller Brewing Company in the early 1990s to breed a back up hop to high-alpha Galena. I crossed Magnum, a German super alpha hop with Galena and Hallertauer mittelfrueh parentage, with a male seedling of Brewers Gold, Fuggle and Late Grape parentage. The outcome was Newport.”

Dr. Al did not make the crosses for Centennial, which was originally bred at the USDA facility in Prosser, Washington. Dr. Al did assist in field testing the selection in Oregon.

Green Greatness Denied?

Although Dr. Al had a hand in the creation or testing of these four high alpha/medium aroma cultivars, none of them – Centennial, Chinook, Horizon or Newport, and you can add Mt. Raineer to that list - have flourished commercially in the Willamette Valley.

To be sure, Horizon, Mt. Raineer and Newport have failed to catch on anywhere, whether in Oregon, Idaho or Washington. With respect to Chinook, which ranks as the 5th highest use hop by craft brewers (BA 2009 hop usage survey), the entire US crop of such hops in 2009 was harvested in Washington. As for Centennial, surpassed only by Cascade as the most popular hop in 2009 among crafties, only two Oregon growers harvested Centennial in 2009, both going off radar to do so. Washington brought home nearly the entire supply.

Why is this? Do dual purpose hops grow better in the Yakima Valley? Are the yields in Yakima higher? Are Oregon growers not up the challenge? Do dual purpose hops “keep” or “store” better in the high plains of Eastern Washington?

According to Al, the answer has to do with history, habit and logistics and nothing to do with terroir, or farmer skill, or passion.

“For years the hop merchants have been contracting with Yakima farmers to grow Centennial. A dual-purpose hop like Centennial needs to be harvested, dried, cooled and refrigerated quickly, to avoid combustion and oxidation,” Al instructs soberly. “Most of the cold storage capacity is in Yakima. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to truck tons of volatile hops in non-refrigerated trucks from Oregon when they can be grown a few miles from the storage coolers in Yakima.”

Heat Blows

Hops in general don’t like heat, but higher alpha hops in particular have been known to combust or “self-ignite” when not properly cooled and stored. It’s imperative, stressed Dr. Al, that before stacking bales in a warehouse, the temperature at the core of the bale, as well as the ambient temperature, must be brought down to the 70s.

Hops with high total oils, such as Bullion, Chinook, Newport and Centennial, can generate tremendous heat inside a tightly compressed 200 pound bale. The heat needs to dissipate. It’s critical, reminds Al, that hops be allowed to cool off after drying in a loose stack when removed form the kiln. “If you bale them while they’re hot, and stack them up end on end in a closed room without allowing the heat to dissipate,” Al warns gravely, “they’ll self ignite. They’ll blow.” As in sky high. As in you better have good insurance.

If heat is an enemy, then the Willamette Valley must be a safe harbor. By comparison, the day time ambient temperatures in the Valley around harvest time are six (6) degrees cooler than in Yakima. Impatience is another enemy. Hops must be allowed to cool down for at least 18-24 hours before baling. Hops are dried in the kiln at about 140F (often much higher on especially hot summer days). The optimal temp of a baled hop before storage should hover around 72F. The optimal temp of baled hops in in cold storage drops below freezing.

A hop baled before it’s time and temp is a recipe for blackened, oxidized hops, or worse. Ka-Blam!

What about yields? According to Al, the yields between Oregon and Washington should be compatible. What about alpha acid product? Compatible. What about disease resistance? Per Dr. Al, growing Chinook in Oregon may pose a challenge because of the risk of downy mildew. However, he assures, that risk can be managed by good farming technique and vigilance.

Centennials Busting to Break Out
What about those Oregon-grown Centennials? Are they any good? I haven’t seen any data comparing the chemistry profiles, not that the numbers alone tell the story. We have received feedback from brewers who have used Centennials harvested in 2009 from Goschie Farms (one of our farm partners). In so many words, the consensus sounded something like … err uhh, Damn! This is good sh**!

Here at Indie Hops, we’re satisfied that the Willamette Valley terroir is well suited for both aroma and dual purpose varieties. In the end, it comes down to the talent, skill, patience, experience and passion of the grower. We’ve got two of the finest in Goschie Farms and Coleman Farms.

Cooler, Greener, Richer

In 2010, Indie will be planting “Salmon Safe” Chinook (gotta love that!), Centennial, Horizon, Perle, and a host of aroma hops (e.g., Cascade, Liberty, Mt. Hood, Ultra, Goldings, Santiam, Crystal and Columbia).

If storage is a problem, we can fix that. We’ve got the space. Our patient pelleting mill is now running, which means there’s no need to truck Oregon’s finest beer flower 250 miles to Yakima in the dog days of August. We’ll be able to quickly convert baled cones into fresh, oily, happy pellets within a few days of harvest. We’ve lowered the temperature of the pelleting die below 110 degrees F and our storage cooler is always below freezing.

But more on that later.

Roger Worthington
4/2/10

Hop History With Dr. Haunold, Part V.

Perle: Is it an Alpha Hop? An Aroma hop? Or Something In Between?

The Germans, to this day, insist Perle (pronounced Purr-lay) is an aroma hop. When grown in Germany, the alpha acid content is a reliable 7 - 8% -- not exactly the subtle levels of an esteemed Hallertauer mf, which hover below 5%. That disparity, however, as a matter of historical record never stopped German hop merchants on the hunt for premium prices from suggesting a mild Hallertau “infusion.”

Not until, that is, they were busted in the late 1970s by a scientist who, at an international meeting, stood up and said, “Wait a minute you bearded Bavarian boys in lederhosen, this hop you call Perle quacks, waddles and paddles like a Northern Brewer. Pray tell, what’s in it?” For years the Germans resisted disclosing the pedigree, vainly trying to keep the lid on the truth as long as possible, during which time they could happily exploit the alleged Hallertau lineage.

Finally, in 1978, the Germans gave up the goose and admitted their beloved Perle was actually the progeny of a Northern Brewer crossed with a male of unknown pedigree (I guess it could have Hallertau bloodlines). As hopworld “dust-ups” go, this was big – big enough to draw out the young Dr. Haunold, our very own People’s Hopmeister and delightful stickler for the truth.

Trust, but Verify

Al recalls that during the 1960s and 1970s the Germans jealously guarded their rhizomes like the proverbial rich ugly old maid with her silver spoons. But, he noted, the Germans wanted something he had just cooked up: Galena and Nugget. “So we made a trade. But I forced them to confirm that their Perle rhizomes were indeed the offspring of Northern Brewer and an undisclosed male parent. I was skeptical about their boast that Perle belonged in the vaunted noble family, so I did some testing.”

In 1980, Al propagated a plot near Corvallis, harvested same and tested it. The alpha of the German grown Perle hovered around 8%, but the alpha in the Oregon grown cones shot up to 11%, with some tests ringing the bell at 12% or slightly higher. Al and his chemists had spent years evaluating “noble aroma hops” in order to figure out their mystique so he knew a little about the major quality components that traditional brewers expected from these esteemed, boutique hops for which they had unflinchingly paid premium prices.

But what made the Oregon- grown Perle richer in alpha acids? It’s all terroir, baby. The answer, to this day, remains something of a mystery, but if Al were to speculate --speculation being a rank and vulgar practice of histrionic lawyers and pseudo-scientists, -- the good hopmeister would offer the following.

Size Does Matter

Oregon’s hop yards line up with the 45th Northern Parallel, while the German yards are further north on the 48th Latitude. As a rule of thumb, the closer a hop vine is to the equator, all other things being equal (ceterus paribus!), the higher the acid in the cone (as a % of weight). Added to which, size does matter: the smaller the cone, the bigger the alpha juice jolt (your basic inverse relationship). Oregon Perle cones were generally smaller than their German grown sisters, but probably due to a confluence of agronomic, water supply, soil quality and climactic factors, the Oregon yields tended to be higher. So there – rank, raw, crude, unwholesome speculation.

The question you have to be asking by now is, OK, how does any of this affect the price of hops in Hubbard, Oregon? Here’s the deal. Let’s say you’re a brewer. Your recipe calls for Northern Brewer. We suggest you consider Perle. Why? Oregon - grown Perle has higher yields than Northern Brewer. Indeed, the main driver of N. Brewer in the States for years was Anchor Steam Brewery, but few growers wanted to hassle with it since the yields were so low, in part because the hop was infected with several viruses.

Yields of US grown Perle (mostly virus-free) are reliably between 1,400 and 1,600 pounds. Both are touted for their “minty” or “evergreen” flavor, but Perle has higher alpha, and stores quite well – as Al puts it, “Perle is a good keeper.

Think Globally, Buy Hops Locally

If you’re vacillating between US Perle and Germany Perle, consider these factors. The US - grown Perle has much higher yields and probably more reliable (Verticillium wilt is not the scourge here that it is there).You will get 20% more alpha. You will be keeping US growers alive. Buying locally will also save you money, especially today in view of the strong Euro and weak dollar. And besides, why reward the Germans for perpetuating the myth that their Perle has Hallertau bloodlines, a ruse designed to jack up both the mystique and the price?

Finally, let’s say you want to examine those lovely cones on the vine dangling in the summer breeze. Are you going to book a flight to Munich? With Oregon - grown Perle, which matures earlier than most sister hop varieties in the Valley, you can walk the Salmon - Safe certified hop yards at the Coleman farms like a kid in the candy store. “I’ll take a bale of this, two bales of that…”

Unlike the cultivars we’ve discussed to date, Al did not breed a new Perle derivative. He was simply the first to pry a few rhizomes from the Germans and plant them in Oregon, where in fits and starts they’ve flourished ever since. In the 2009 BA Hop Usage survey, brewers surprisingly continued to buy more German Perle than US Perle (29,550 lbs vs. 21,965 lbs, respectively).

Indie Hops will plant Perle on the Coleman Farms near St. Paul, Oregon, in 2010 with our baby harvest in 2011. We’re excited to get brewer feedback as, over time, who knows exactly what exciting flavors and aromas await. Al’s expertise stops when the hops hit the boil. For that, we defer to the nose and tongue of the brewer.

RGW
Feb. 12, 2010