This is the stuff of legends: The Farnham Whitebine

The astonishing resurgence of Farnham hops continues: they're even on the telly now.

Countryfile Anita Rani present visited the hop growers in the Farnham area (yes, both of them), starting with Bill Biddell in Puttenham, and then moving on to see Rupert Thompson in Tongham. 

As one of Britain's foremost Farnham Whitebine historians, I was delighted to see the hop described as "the stuff of legends", and the presenter seemed quite taken with the hop and the beer made with it.

You can watch the programme here, the hops are at 2, 40 and 55 minutes.

The return of the Farnham Whitebine

The most exciting hop news in the best part of a century is now out: Farnham Whitebines are returning home. Hogs Back Brewery have announced they are now planting their own hops, including Farnham Whitebines.

Brilliant news -Just announced new 2 acre hop garden by brewery- Farnham White Bine returning home after 100 years pic.twitter.com/P4Hp9DvXmb
— Rupert Thompson (@RupertGRT) April 16, 2014

I had heard this was happening but I figured it was their news to tell. As Farnham Whitebines have long been an obsession of mine I think it's fair to say that I'm rather pleased about it. 

There is a rather large hop aphid in the ointment for me though, as I've been boycotting Hogs Back's beers for many years. Ho hum.

The return of the Farnham whitebine

For over a century considered the most prized hop in Britain, the Farnham whitebine suffered the ignominy of being grubbed up from the last farms growing it and replaced with Fuggles in 1929. The recently introduce disease downy mildew had proved too much for it.

But this was not extinction, merely exile. Cuttings had long before been taken to Kent and Worcestershire, where they were known as Canterbury whitebines and Mathons. In these much larger hop growing areas it continued to be grown as part of the Goldings group, and when Wye College selected four clones from this group to provide a range of Goldings plants with different maturity dates the Mathon was one of them.

 It continues to be grown today, which is handy, as it means it means rhizomes can be easily obtained. The one I planted out the front has now sprouted, and though may not be in Farnham, it's in Surrey, so I think it can revert to being a Farnham whitebine. Just in time for Farnham beerex too. Oh how delighted my friends will be now I've got something else to bore them with about Farnham hops.

Could this be even more exciting than a hop pocket with a Farnham Bell?

The hop and its constituents by A C Chapman

Thanks to a tip off from Dave at work I've found more on Farnham Whitebines and the unresolved mysteries of the Mathon.  

On the Willingham Nurseries website is a PDF of the 1905 book The Hop and its Constituents by A C Chapman. To my delight it includes a couple of chapters by John Percival, author of the famous article from 1901 The Hop and its English Varieties. Once again he provides details of English hop varieties, but slightly annoyingly in the intervening four years he seems to have become less convinced that the Canterbuy, Farnham and Mathon Whitebines are exactly the same plant. Though to cloud the issue further being grown in different areas and probably harvested at different times would account for some variation.

Here's what he had to say on this fascinating conundrum:

'The main crop sorts cultivated in the best hop-growing districts are the Canterbury, Farnham and Mathon varieties, with the true Golding hop. These are similar to each other in many respects, and in all probability are genetically related. The Canterbury, Farnham and Mathon hops all have pale green or "white" bines, which grow to a great height if allowed.

The Canterbury whitebine is largely grown in East Kent, the Farnham hop around the town of this name in Surrey, while the Mathon is the Worcestershire and Herefordshire representative of this class.

The cones are of medium size, oval in shape, those of the Farnham hop being the least of the trio, the Mathon perhaps the largest, although there is not much difference in size. All have thin pale golden petals, rich in lupulin, and the flavour and aroma are all that is desired.

On account of their delicate constitution they cannot be grown profitably except in the favoured districts where soil and climate are suitable.

The Cobbs' Hop is a main crop variety of recent introduction. It is hardier than the Canterbury type with thin pale petals.It is an excellent cropper where the climate and land are satisfactory, but is generally not rich in lupulin.

The "Golding" Hop resembles the Canterbury and Farnham types. It is often confused with these, and gardens supposed to be pure usually contain both Goldings and Canterbury Whitebines.

The true Golding hop has slightly larger cones not so clustered together as the Canterbury sort, and the bine is not so tall and is more speckled with red blotches and streaks.'

More on Farnham hops

Which I 'm sure is a moment you've been wating for. Probably. Anyway it’s about time I wrote up some of the information I jotted down when I looked though the archives of Wye Hops Ltd.

Though those of your who’ve been following my series on the history of the Goldings hops closely will have thought that all that’s left is the out takes but in fact we’re going to have to go back to Farnham for some early, pre-whitebine information.

In “The Hop Industry”  (1934) Hubert H Parker cites some fascinating facts from William Ellis’ “Modern Husbandman” (1750):

“The Farnham hop is pale tender sort, and more delicate but looser that the browner Canterbury hop, which latter however has the merit that it ‘never deceives the buyer’. But in Kent they are beginning to displace the brown Canterbury hop by the Farnham variety. ”

“In 1737 only one acre (in Kent) was planted with the pale Farnham or Surrey bines.” But in 1750 Ellis writes “Within these four years past they have greatly increased the growth of the Surrey or pale hop … since the pale sort of malt liquors are more in esteem throughout our island”

This got me all excited as it shows that before the Farnham Whitebine was selected in 1750 cuttings from the best Farnham hops were already being sent to Kent. With there being Farnham Whitebines and pale Farnham/Surrey bines both going to Kent it does get me thinking that my earlier point that Farnham, Canterbury and Mathon Whitebines are one and the same plant is shaken slightly. On the plus side it gives me a likely ancestor for the Farnham Whitebines, as they could well have originated as a bud sports from the pale Farnham/Surrey bines. That would be the common practice of taking an improved cutting from the best hop available, and is how the Canterbury Golding originated from the Canterbury Whitebine.


So as the pale Farnham/Surrey bines had already been sent elsewhere could the Canterbury and Mathon Whitebines also be descended from these earlier plants and not Peckham William's Farnham Whitebine?

Personally I think not. The Farnham Whitebine was considered the best of the English hops and certainly superseded the pale bines in Surrey so could easily do that elsewhere too. Percival considered Farnham, Canterbury and Mathon Whitebines to be one and the same plant and he's our best source, even if some have now started to question him on another matter.Perhaps though the Goldings group of hops is enlarged by adding the pale Surrey/Farnham hop a possible earlier ancestor? This would put the known history back to before 1737 which is nice.

Another point mentioned that I haven't reallly picked up on before: pale hops were wanted for making pale beer. Nowadays it's only the colour of the malt that's considered important. I wonder how much colour hops can add to pale beers?

But back to my notes. Parker continues:

"Farnham hops maintened the postition of pre-eminence which they enjoyed at the beginning of the eighteenth centruy until 1850 at least, but the select committee of 1890 reported that the best hops were grown in East Kent, next came Farnham hops, then Hereford and Worcester and the Weald of Kent and Sussex last. 1908 East Kents are thought to have declined a little in quality but are still places first; Mid-Kents, Hereford and Worcester, now considered equal are second and the Weald of Kent and Sussex follow. Farnham's are not mentioned. The gradual decline of Farnham as the centre of the production of the finest quality hops is not easy to explain. The Farnham growers had so assured a position for 150 years: soil and climate were suitable to the production of hops of superior quality: cultivation was brought to a fine state of perfection and their methods of marketing graded hops in sealed pockets left little to be desired.  

In earlier years Farnham hops had gone principally to brewers in the midlands, who in the later part of the period, were able to find in the Hereford and Worcester districts a class of hop which was very suitable for their business at a price well below that of Farnham's."

In my post on the Farnham Whitebines I go into the decline of Farnham hops, which was mainly caused by improved tranportation leading to increased competition. Not a bad run run though, being Britain's best for over 150 years.

EDIT:

There's part of the Management of Hops chapter from the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England Volume 9 (1848) I should add considering it's relevance to Parker's later point about Farnham hops:

"At Farnham they are picked in a superior manner to any other district, being picked quite separate, free from leaves, and the inferior and discoloured hops sorted out and put by themselves, which in some degree accounts for the superiority and higher price of Farnham hops; but since Mid and East Kent Golding hops have been better picked and dried, they have been approached nearer to the price of Farnhams, and there has been an instance of hops grown in Kent making more money than any Farnham hops did the same year."

 So Farnham practices, as well as Farnham hops, spread to Kent.

The Genesis of the Goldings

The origins of the Goldings hop varieties: The Main Event.

‘To a beginner desirous of obtaining definite ideas on the nature of hops, nothing is so puzzling or so annoying as the use of the term "Golding." The inquirer soon learns that it is sometimes employed to denote a particular variety, which every grower in the best districts says, and probably imagines, that he grows; and on other occasions, perhaps more especially in districts suited only to the coarser varieties, the term is extended to include a somewhat heterogeneous mixture of kinds possessing few discoverable characters in common, except that they are hops.’ (1)
Writing in 1901 John Percival’s observation on the confusion surrounding the term “Golding” still rings true today. Though there’s no doubt the original Golding came from a cutting selected by a gentleman of that name a wide range of hops have been, and still are, sold as Goldings.

The National Hop Collection has ten different varieties of Goldings, and Goldings are also sold on the basis of geographical location irrespective of which particular variety they are. The term ‘Golding’ has also been misapplied to hops that are no relation to true Goldings, no doubt in the hope a little gold will rub off on them. It’s no wonder that even an esteemed and widely respected publication like the Oxford Companion to Beer seems a little muddled!

A H Burgess (2) records that the old Hop Marketing Board sold eight varieties of hops as ‘Goldings’ and Peter Darby of Wye Hops Ltd has kindly informed me about the other Goldings clones in the national hop collection (3). The different varieties have come from clonal selection of bud sports and are very similar plants with differences in ripening times and disease resistance.

Back in the day it was important for hop farmers to grow a range of varieties which had staggered ripening times so they were able to spread the time of picking and drying. Increased disease resistance has obvious benefits and both mutants with different ripening times and disease resistance can be relatively easily selected from a population.

To try and bring some order to the chaos I’ll go through the different Goldings clones in the National Hop Collection chronologically as shown in a picture on Stan Hieronymus’s blog, followed by a brief note on locality.

Canterbury Whitebine

Percvial (1) states that the Canterbury Whitebine, Farnham Whitebine and Mathon Whitebine are so closely related in botanical character that the cannot be distinguished form one another and are, no doubt, one and the same variety. The Farnham White Bine was originally selected from a cutting by Peckham Williams around 1750 as I have detailed earlier. Though it has long been sold as a Golding variety this plant pre-dates Mr Golding’s famous selection as it is, in fact, the parent plant he took his renowned cutting from.

Canterbury Golding

This is the famous variety selected by Mr Golding of East Malling from a garden of Canterbury Whitebines shortly before 1790 (2).

It must have been a bud sport as

Percival (1) records that the Golding hop was:
1. a larger hop than the Canterbury Whitebine varieties, with
2. a bine more speckled with red, of less luxuriant growth, on which
3. the hops hang more singly than is the case with the Canterbury hop.
Growers differed in their views on whether or not it was more finely flavoured than Farnham or Canterbury Whitebines.

Bramling
This was selected by a farm bailiff named Smith on Musgrave Hilton’s farm in Bramling near Canterbury. It was grown extensively by 1865. I don't know what it was selected from but presumably a Canterbury Golding.

Mathon
The picture on Stan Hieronymus’s blog listing various hop varieties in the National Hop Collection shows the Mathon as being something separate from the other whitebines, even though Percival considered them to all be the same variety. As far as hops go “Mathon” is simply a shortening of “Mathon Whitebine” it could be that this is a bud sport with different characteristics from the Canterbury/Farnham/Mathon Whitebine clone already mentioned or possibly it origniated from the earlier Farnham Pale hop. I haven't asked Peter Darby if he can confirm this as it's good to have a bit of mystery in your life.

Mercers or Rodmersham Golding
Selected around 1880 by Robert Mercer of Rodmersham House, Sittingbourne from a hop garden reputed to be of the Golding variety.

Cobbs

Selected by James West, a hop factor from a garden of Canterbury Whitebines on the farm of John Cobb, Sheldwich near Faversham around 1881.

Petham Golding

There is no record of its selection but it was presumably from Petham, near Canterbury. Slightly more vigorous than other Goldings and less mottled with red.

Amos’s Early Bird
Selected in 1887 by Alfred Amos of Spring Grove, Wye from a garden of Bramlings.

Eastwell Golding and Late Eastwell Golding
The Eastwell Golding was originally grown at Eastwell Park near Ashford in Kent before 1889. Similar to Petham and Rodmersham Goldings but slightly later ripening. The variety now sold grown and sold as Eastwell Golding by the Redsell Farms group is however an early season variety so the National Hop Collection maintain two selections with different ripening characteristics. (3)

We can see the classification of Goldings is based around hops propagated from Canterbury Whitebines and Mr Golding’s famous hop, which was itself propagated from a Canterbury Whitebine. It’s clear that there’s something anachronistic going on grouping these hops under the name of ‘Goldings’. Percival notes that Canterbury Whitebine and Goldings were considered quite separate hops initially and it was not until after the middle of the 19th century that they were merged into one group. In 1901 he said it’s “customary to apply the term ‘Goldings’ to the best class of hops, such as the Canterbury and Farnham Whitebines, the Bramling and Mathon hops, with Cobb’s and the Rodmersham varieties, and stretched occasionally to include others of less repute.” This practice was continued by the Hop Marketing Board and carries on to this day.

Classification of hop varieties is complicated by the fact that hops were often sold on the basis of where they were grown, as East Kent Goldings still are today irrespective of which Golding variety they are.

The Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911 (now there’s an auspicious year) states how hops in Kent were sold:

“The hops grown in Kent are classified in the markets as "East Kents," "Bastard East Kents," "Mid Kents" and "Wealds," according to the district of the county in which they are produced. The relative values of these four divisions follow in the same order, East Kents making the highest and Wealds the lowest rates. These divisions agree in the main with those defined by geological formations.”

This regional division affected how well the plants grew, and which varieties were grown, as for example, the chalky soil of East Kent is good for growing Goldings but on the clay and sand of the Weald Goldings won’t grow well so the coarser Fuggles were preferred.

Which hops can now be sold “East Kent Goldings” is now protected under European law with a tightly defined geographical area and the hop varieties required to have the typical essential oil composition of Goldings (4).
I've got in touch with my hop supplies (Charles Farams and Botanix) to find out which of the true Goldings varieties are sold today and they told me Cobbs, Mathons, Early Bird and perhaps a few Canterbury Whitebines, though both companies sell them as 'Goldings' and 'East Kent Goldings'.
Here ends a chapter, but a chapter only in the history of the origins of the Goldings varieties. If you think I've gone on for far too long already at least in part three: the epilogue there will be sex.
References:
1. Percival, John. The Hop and its English varieties, 1901.
2. Burgess, A H. Hops, 1964, p39-44.
3. Personal communication, 4 Jan 2012
4. http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/industry/regional/foodname/products/documents/east-kent-goldings-pdo-120208.pdf

The Farnham Whitebine hop

The origins of the Goldings hop varieties: The Prologue.

As I've said before, I've long been interested in the history of Farnham hops and how they were once considered the best of the English hops. I've been even more interested since I found out that plants originally propagated from Farnham hops are still grown as part of the Goldings group.
 

I've been looking through books, and on the internet, and even going to the Surrey History Centre and I think I've now got a fairly coherent account of this most prized of hops.

Richard Bradley, writing in 1729, shows that Farnham was already an important hop growing area:

"I should have been more particular concerning the building of the hop-kiln but there are so many of them to be seen about Canterbury and Farnham that everyone may be easily satisfied of their structure". (1)

He provides no details of specific hop varieties though, saying instead:
"Most of the hop planters make three sorts of hops, one of them they n
ame the good or master hop, or the manured or garden hop. The other they call the unkindly hop, and some call this the Fryer, others call it the male hop, but without reason. The third sort is that which they call the wild hop, and some likewise call this the savage" (2)


Hops were first named for the character of their cones, e.g. Long White, Oval, Long Square Garlick; or by the colour of their bines, e.g. White Bine, Green Bine, Red Bine. (3)
Early hop varieties will have originated from landraces, and genetic analysis shows that "at least two populations existed in ancient times and the hops cultivated in England originated from or are related to both populations". (4)

Propagating cuttings from the best plants, or plants with desirable characteristics, has for centuries been how most hops are grown commercially. Whether the Farnham White Bine originated as a cutting or a seedling wasn't mentioned in the first account I found of its origins, Valerie O'Rourke's history written in 1973, but it did name the man behind it:
 

"Around 1750 a new strain of hop was introduced to the Farnham growers by a Mr Peckham-Williams of Badshot Place, Badshot Lea (a small village in the parish of Farnham). This was a White Bine Grape hop, and was to become famous as the Farnham White Bine, which would be grown in the Farnham hop grounds until the disastrous inter-war years, when the blight hit so badly the growers changed to another variety". (5)


This lead me on to further research that says it was grown from a cutting (12):

"Several varieties of hops are here grown; but the best, and that which is cultivated to the greatest extent, is the whitebine grape-hop, which was first raised from a single cutting about fifty years about by Peckham Williams, Esq. of Badshot Place, near Farnham, who whould never suffer any other sort to be grown on his plantation, which is still kept up by that alone."

Unlike Mr Golding or Mr Fuggle it's clear cut who Mr Williams was, and some sources even accord him a similar honour by naming the hop after him: William's White Bine (13). My brief research has revealed he was born 1718 (or 1719) and died in 1785. I'll leave it there though. The lovely Lisa have been very patient with my Farnham White Bine obsession but she started wailing and gnashing her teeth when I began whittering on about Peckham Williams as well.
 

Farnham White Bines were considered the best hops in Britain and commanded the highest price:

"The Farnham hops generally fetch one-third more, and sometimes double those of other districts." (6)

Quite why this was the case was the cause of much speculation by William Stevenson in 1809:

"It cannot be scribed to the particular variety of hop which is cultivated at Farnham [...] cuttings from the best Farnham hops have been sent into Kent, and if this were really the case, we may be assured it would long before this have produced the same effect there as at Farnham. (7)
Farnham White Bines grown at Canterbury in Kent were called Canterbury White Bines, and white bines grown at Mathon, Worcestershire were called Mathon White Bines or simply Mathons (14). Though the last white bines in Farnham were grubbed up in 1929, Canterbury White Bines and Mathons are still grown to this day, though they're both sold (to brewers, if not to hop merchants) as Goldings.
 
Farnham hops were particularly prized for their pale colour and delicate flavour. Stevenson doesn't seem overly impressed by this and says Farnham hops are picked before they're ripe adding rather sniffily:

"We shall not examine whether such hops ought to be called more delicate, or weaker than those of other districts." (8) He concludes that the reason Farnham hops get the best price is due to "the name of Farnham hops" (9) i.e. the brand value.

This doesn't really tell us how Farnham hops got to be such a good brand, but fortunately for me a previous researcher looked at this issue in some detail so I shall quote Ashton Booth on this (10):

"In summarising the factors which lead to and maintained their higher price we discover some factors necessary for commercial success in any enterprise.
First, natural advantages, in the case of soil and topography. Secondly, a high quality product, with quality control maintained through all the growing and processing operations. Thirdly a grading system which ensures evenness of the quality. Fourthly, high quality packaging, prestige wrapping and publicity. Fifthly, a monopoly hold on the best selling site; sixthly, the continued existence of the market demand."

The practices of the hops growers in Farnham were quite distinct from those of the growers in Kent, which I may return to later. I'll note at this point that unlike the hop gardens and oast houses of Kent the Farnham growers it seems had hop grounds and hop kilns.
 
East Kent and Farnham undoubtedly have the right soil and climate for growing hops. The Farnham growers took more care in their picking and packaging than in other hop growing areas and they were dried without sulphur:

"Mr Lance observes, that sulphur is made use of in Kent and Sussex with a view to give a light colour to the hops. The truth is, that this sulphuring is a process of bleaching, an abstraction, and not addition of colour. The slow combustion of sulphur produces sulphurous acid, and that acid (which does not contain a full does of oxygen), acts upon the hops as it does straw in the manufacture of bonnets. It removes the brown tint, and gives brightness in lieu of it. On this subject Mr Lance says, that at Farnham they avoid sulphur "and yet obtain a delicate colour, because they sort out the bruised hops, and pick early before they are injured by the wind. These Farnham hops are found to keep their strength longer than the Kent, because they have not any brimstone in them. In Kent, the most delicate coloured hops are likely to be the most inferior in strength. The oil and flavour of the hops are exceedingly volatile; the atmospheric air will take them away in a short time, and more particularly when sulphur is incorporated with them. In drying them with sulphur much of the aromatic bitter passes off with the fumes of the sulphur" (11)

Farnham hops were carefully graded and only the finest were sent to the fair at Weyhill near Andover. They held pride of place in their exclusive booths on Blissimore Hall Acre, some of which still stand and were particularly prized by West Country brewers and private gentlemen.

With the coming of railways improved transportation diminished the importance of Weyhill fair and increased competition made it harder for Farnham hop growers. Their premium price became eroded, which made it more difficult to recover after bad years as their land rent and other costs were higher.

Extremely bad summers from 1875 to 1884 caused the start of the decline and many hop growers gave up, and the land was used for other crops, housing or quarrying for gravel.

A series of bad attacks from downy mildew in the years 1925 to 1929 spelled the end of the Farnham White Bines and they were grubbed up and replanted mainly with Fuggles (15), a popular English variety but not one that will have commanded a premium price. The last Farnham hop ground at Holt Pound closed in 1976, the owner blaming EEC regulations (16).


References:

1. The Riches of A Hop-Garden Explain'd. Richard Bradley. 1729. p99.
   
2. ibid. p37-38
3. Hops. Burgess, AH, 1964. p39.
4. Hop Variety Classification Using the Genetic Distance Based on RAPD. A Murakami, Journal of the Institute of Brewing. Volume 106, No. 3 2000. p157-161.
5. Hop growing and its decline in the parish of Farnham 1873-1973. Valerie D O'Rourke. 1973. p7
6. The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Nov 14th 1835. p445.
7. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Surrey. William Stevenson. 1809. p372.
8. ibid. p373.
9. ibid. p374.
10. Farnham and District Museum Society Newsletter. Ashton Booth. Vol 5, Dec 1978.
11. The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. Vol V, March 1834-March 1835. p525-526
12. The Beauties of England and Wales. Frederick Shoberl. Vol XIV, p242.
13. The farmer's encyclopædia, and dictionary of rural affairs. Cuthber William Johnson. 1844. p632
14. Hops. A H Burgess. 1964. p64.
15. Valerie D O'Rourke. Op cit. p50
16. Ashton Booth. Op cit. p59

A brief history of cultivated hops in England

I heard hop expert Peter Darby give a talk on the history of cultivated hops in England the other day. As he poured out distilled essence of hop history I mopped it up as best I could, furiously scribbling down notes.
I'm no expert botanist or geneticist but to help make sense of it bear in mind that hops have male and female plants, only the cones from the females are used in brewing and each hop ‘varieties’ used in brewing is essentially a single female plant that has been cloned by vegetative reproduction. Males are of importance when making new ‘varieties’ though as sexual reproduction is used to make new plants. I hope this account is of interest:

Surprisingly for something going back that far Peter started with the exact year that hops were first cultivated in England for use in brewing: 1524. He said this was a documented date when Flemish religious refugees started growing hops. I think he even mentioned the heresy they adhered to but I couldn’t make it out. I bet it wasn’t neo-kegism though! The hop they grew was the Flemish Red Bine, but they can’t have done that well as in 1560 they had to call over a consultant, Peter de Wolf from Flanders to tell them how to do it properly.

The hops hybridised with indigenous English hops and by the end of the 1600s there were three types:

 Flemish Red Bine, which was easy to grow and quite disease resistant but coarse and not good for brewing.

 Green Bines, which were better for brewing and

 White Bines which were difficult to grow but the most prized for brewing.

By the early 1700s White Bines predominated and the best were grown in Farnham: Farnham White Bines. Hops were named by their shape, their grower or the place they were grown in. So when Farnham White Bines spread to the Midlands and over to East Kent they became known by different names, such as Canterbury White Bines.

By the end of the 1700s one White Bine was selected out by Mr Golding.
In the 1800s a number of Goldings were grown, for example Bramling, Amos’ Early Bird and Mercer. East Kent Golding is a marketing term as hops grown in East Kent were now considered the best and does not refer to any particular selection of Goldings hops. During the 1800s various clones proliferated. Around 1875 the Fuggle was released, though Percival’s often repeated account of how it originated from a seed found by Richard Fuggle which had been thrown out with some crumbs from a hop picking basket is simply not true. He would either have been three at the time or have emigrated to Canada four years previously!

When we reach the 1900s there are various varieties have been selected:

 Flemish Red Bines, such as Tolhurst and Canterbury Jack (the Shepherd Neame beer of this name does not contain any Canterbury Jack hops)

 Green Bines such as Colgates and Prolific.

 White Bines, including Fuggles and ten types of Goldings. The Mathon Golding is the same plant that had also been known as Farnham White Bines and Cantebury White Bines. These plants will have some differences as the soil they are grown in will alter the character of the hops and epigenetic effects can lead to differences in disease resistance even in genetically identical plants.

In 1906 Wye College in Kent appointed a mycologist, EF Salmon, who had experience in working with powdery mildew, a common hop disease. He started a hop breeding programme. Looking for marketable varieties he noticed that brewers were looking for resin content, as they gave more bitterness and preservative properties but still preferred British flavours. In 1917 he took the unusual step of using wild American hop plants from Oregon in the USA and Manitoba in Canada to make crosses. This greatly increased the genetic diversity. Seedlings from these crosses were planted out in 1919 and one of them became Brewers Gold. This hop had double the alpha acid (potential bitterness) content of the other hops available at the time and is in the pedigree of every high alpha hop in the world today!

Hops evolved in Southern China 6.5 million years ago and the population separated 1.5 million years ago, spreading West and eventually reaching Europe and East over to North America. When these divergent populations were reunited in breeding programmes increases in alpha acid content, mildew resistance, dwarf varieties and new aroma possibilites were opened up.

In 1978 Ray Neve rescued the Wye hop collection from a wilt stricken field and replanted the hops in two separate areas. Peter Darby took over in 1981 and by 2006 the collection had 1500 plants, including 120 named varieties with 70 of these English (including 10 different clones of the Golding variety). Some of these plants had a history going back to 1737. Funding from the government stopped in 2006 and the terms of the lease said the fields had to be returned to arable land: all the hops would be grubbed up unless funding could be found. The National Hop Association decided they couldn't allow this and rapidly raised money.

The hop collection was rationalised: varieties that could be obtained elsewhere, duplicates (plants that had different names but where identical in character and genetics to other varieties) and hops that had been superseded were removed.

This got the collection down to 784 accessions, including the 120 named varieties and 361 males. In 2007 they were planted in a new hop garden and in 2008 the core (including all the English varieties) were also planted in a second site as a precaution against disease.

In 2009 the paperwork was submitted to a body that now goes under the name of Plant Heritage and in 2010 these plants were declared the National Hop Collection, which gives the collection more prestige and should help secure its future.

The plants in the collection are still actively used for crosses and from next year the collection will be open to the public through the Shepherd Neame visitors centre.

Pervious hop selections were made using the judgement of the researchers but using modern scientific techniques the collection is now being analysed more systematically and the brewing characteristics analysed.

Wye hops have recently developed two new varieties: Endeavor which has a Cascade like flavour and Aramis which is grown in France. Some older varieties which were previously rejected are also being looked at again to see if they are suitable for modern tastes.

I think I’ve got the details down correctly, but sadly I have no references, only the notes I scribbled down.

A talk about Australian hops followed, and on leaving we were given a goody bag of small samples of various new, old and Australian hop varieties which I will no doubt return to at some point soon.

The plot thickens in Farnham

I was a very interesting meeting put on by Simply Hops last night. Amongst the wealth of information I got from the gathered hop experts was the fact Farnham hops are still grown today as Mathon Goldings. More details when I get a moment.

Historic Hops

Many years ago when I got "Old British Beers And How To Make Them" I was fascinated to see Farnham mentioned in the hops section:
"In 1750 there were six well established varieties: Farnham Pale, Canterbury Brown, Long White, Oval, Long Square Garlic and Flemish. Farnham Pale was regarded as the best quality hop but with the introduction of Golding in 1795 it became just another hop that was eventually superseded by Fuggles"
Farnham's not far from where I live, and has an excellent beer festival and some cracking pubs. Beer nerd that I am I have wondered if the hops are still around anywhere, and much to my delight I now know they are. On the last page of Beer magazine Jody Scheckter of the Laverstoke Park Farm says of their beers: "I also insisted we use heritage hops not in wide commercial use, such as Fuggles, Farnham White Bine and White Grape".
So the hops still exist, all I need to do now is find some...