File - Worthy Garden Club

Hop History & Breeding
By
Shaun Townsend
Aroma Hops Breeding Program
Outline
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Introduction
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Taxonomy and distribution
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Floral biology, important traits
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Historical notes
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Hop breeding
Hop Characteristics
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Long-lived herbaceous perennial
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Climbing bine
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Dioecious - male and female plants
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Female plants have economic value
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Males only used in breeding programs
Principal use is beer brewing
Also potential use as a pharmaceutical, ornamental,
and livestock feed supplement
Hop Types
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Bittering hops
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High levels of alpha and beta acids that
provide bitterness to beer
Aroma hops
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Provides flavor and aroma to beer
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“Spice of beer”
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Very complex chemistry involved
Humulus Center of Origin
From Murikami et al, 2006
Taxonomy
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Canabaceae family (Cannabis, Humulus)
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Humulus spp.
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H. yunnanensis (China)
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H. japonicus (Japan)
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H. lupulus (Europe, Asia, North America)
Humulus lupulus Taxonomy
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Small's (1978) classification
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Five botannical varieties
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H. l. var. lupulus (Europe)
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H. l. var. cordifolius (China, Japan)
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H. l. var. lupuloides (North America)
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H. l. var. neomexicanus (North America)
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H. l. var. pubescens (North America)
Hop Plant
Hop Flowers
Female Hop Flower
World Hop Production
2014
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Germany
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36% of acreage, 41% of production
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34% of acreage, 34% of production
U.S.
Everyone Else
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30% of acreage, 25% of production
U.S. Hop Production
2014
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Washington
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Oregon
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74% of U.S. production, 28,858 ac
14% of U.S. production, 5410 ac
Idaho
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10% of U.S. production, 3743 ac
Hop Domestication for Brewing
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Earliest known reference to hop cultivation
points to a Wendish prisoner's hop garden in
the Hallertau district of Germany – 736 AD.
Additional written evidence points to hop
cultivation in Bohemia, Slovenia, and Bavaria.
Other early hop cultivation areas include the
Ukraine, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia (former),
and Poland.
Hop Domestication for Brewing
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Early selections made by local people selecting
from indigenous plants
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Europe and U.S.
The most desirable selections became
associated with the district or area that they
were cultivated in (ex. Saaz, Hallertau)
Brewers are reluctant to change hops once a
successful recipe is established
Hop Cultivation in the U.S.
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Introduced into North America by the
Massachusetts Company in 1629.
Grown in Virginia and other Eastern areas but
was not an important field crop until about 1808
when the first commercial hop yard was
established in New York.
Early U.S. hop production was centered in New
England but moved West with settlers
Hop Cultivation in the U.S.
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Midwestern states became important hop
growing regions in the early 1800s
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Wisconsin, Michigan
By the late 1800s, California & Oregon were
major hop producers
Production in the East and Midwest declined
and ended with Prohibition
Yakima Valley tops since the 1940s
Hop Improvement
Hop Improvement
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Early hop cultivars were indigenous plants
selected by local people
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Fuggle, Hallertau, Golding, Saaz
Formal plant breeding programs were started in
the late 1800s
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Germany, England
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Current USDA program initated in 1930
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IH/OSU program started in 2010
Hop Production
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Hop is expensive to produce
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Commercially grown on an 18' trellis
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production cost is $7-$10 per plant ($7000$8000 per ac)
Also, 10'-12' short trellis
Requires considerable hand labor for
production
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stringing, training, harvesting, post-harvest
processing
Breeding Program Traits
Agronomic Focus
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Yield (> 8 bales/ac or 1600 lbs/ac)
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Disease resistance
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Pest resistance
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Two-spotted spider mite, hop aphid
Time to maturity
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Downy, powdery mildews
Avoid fall rains in Willamette Valley
Pickability
Breeding Program Traits
Brewery Focus
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Essential oil content and quality
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Over 400 known oil components
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Bittering acid levels
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Storage
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Other compounds?
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Glycosidically-bound compounds
Hop chemistry and influence on beer flavor and
aroma is still a mystery
Downy Mildew
(Pseudoperonspora humuli)
Powdery Mildew
(Podosphaera macularis)
Powdery Mildew
Damson Hop Aphids
(Phorodon humuli)
Two-Spotted Spider Mite
(Tetranychus urticae)
Hop Breeding
Hop Crosses
Greenhouse Selections
Low Trellis for Selection
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6 ft trellis height
Plants spaced 15 in.
apart
Single string per plant
> 600 plants in the
same area that
normally would
accomodate 120
Nursery Establishment
Standard Trellis
Plant Evaluations
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Plants are mature
after two growing
seasons
Agronomic and
disease/pest
evaluations made
throughout growing
season
Harvest
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Plants are harvested
from mid-August to
mid-September
Harvest timing
dictated by breweries
but plants normally
picked 20-23% dry
matter
Drying & Baling
Assessing Hop Aroma
Test Beers
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Generic base ale with
5% alcohol
An experimental hop
is added to the
French press and
soaks for 1 hr
Sample the beer
Sensory
Advanced Testing
Development Timeline
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Year 1 - Crosses, greenhouse selections
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Year 2 - Establish field nursery
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Year 3 - Field notes, "baby year"
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Years 4-6 - Yield, chemical evaluations, etc.
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Years 7+ - Advanced testing on grower-cooperator
farms
It usually takes 10 or more years to develop a new hop
cultivar
Breeding Program
Expensive!
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Hop production
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Commercial -> $7-10 per plant
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Breeding program -> over $20 per plant
Efficient selection protocols are important!
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Molecular markers offer great potential
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Traditional selection techniques
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Mutation breeding
Production Problems
Evaluation - 2015
Summary
Thanks!