Cooper's Hops - Pre 1960's

[kevo]

Hey everyone,

Was just looking at some info on hop varieties and noticed that POR wasn't used until the 1960's.

Any idea what might have been used in Australian brews like Cooper's before this time? And where they may have been sourced from?

cheers

Kev

 

[[email protected]]

Probably UK/European varieties grown in Australia - Fuggles, Goldings, etc.

Victoria & Tasmania have been growing hops since the 19th century: http://www.hopproducts.com.au/production/r...op_gardens.html.

I've heard that the Pride of Ringwood variety was bred (in Ringwood, Vic!!) to suit Aussie conditions as we don't have the same latitude (daylight hours) as the UK.

 

[Bribie G]

I'm sure they would have sourced a lot of hops from USA varieties as well, a historical hangover from those days is the use of Cluster (in XXXX) and probably Nugget was used as well. From the beginning of the C20 when Australia lost most of its ales and went to lager, the brewing industry lost a lot of its ties with the old motherland and had more in common with its neighbours over the Pacific.

Pride of Ringwood was a cross between a UK variety Pride of Kent and a WILD Tassie hop. I wonder what they meant by wild, was it an escapee from previous cultivations or are they suggesting that there were indigenous hops?
I doubt the latter because early colonial brewing attempts used various hop substitutions and then it was discovered early on that hops could be grown in Tasmania more effectively than James Squire's plantations at Ryde (??).

So maybe the wild cross in POR was a distant descendant of hops brought in the early 1900s from somewhere else.

Oh for a time machine.

 

[Peteoz77]

If I had a time machine, I would go back to 1996 and spend $5,000 on Apple stock.

 

[jlm]

Pride of Ringwood was a cross between a UK variety Pride of Kent and a WILD Tassie hop. I wonder what they meant by wild, was it an escapee from previous cultivations or are they suggesting that there were indigenous hops?

Oh for a time machine.

There are indigenous hops. A mate who live in tassie was telling recently how there are new commercial hop fields turning up around Huonville where he lives (after they got rid of them 20 years ago.). Anyway, all the adjoining properties have had people turning up, asking if they can spray the "wild" hops an their land. One couple said no, and these plants were mysteriously dug up and removed in the middle of the night not long after.

 

[BoilerBoy]

One couple said no, and these plants were mysteriously dug up and removed in the middle of the night not long after.

Probably being probed by aliens somewhere as I write :lol:

BB

 

[Spartan 117]

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Pride_of_Ringwood have a read

Aaron

 

[[email protected]]

There are indigenous hops. A mate who live in tassie was telling recently how there are new commercial hop fields turning up around Huonville where he lives (after they got rid of them 20 years ago.). Anyway, all the adjoining properties have had people turning up, asking if they can spray the "wild" hops an their land. One couple said no, and these plants were mysteriously dug up and removed in the middle of the night not long after.

Those 'indigenous' hops would be ones imported from UK/Europe and planted commercially in the past. I'd say they're spraying these wild hops to ensure that there are no male plants that would cross pollinate with the new commercial plantations (and create hybrid strains - not what a commercial hop grower wants!)

The true indigenous hop is some sort of native hop bush - I don't think it can be used for beer brewing....

 

[jlm]

Those 'indigenous' hops would be ones imported from UK/Europe and planted commercially in the past. I'd say they're spraying these wild hops to ensure that there are no male plants that would cross pollinate with the new commercial plantations (and create hybrid strains - not what a commercial hop grower wants!)

The true indigenous hop is some sort of native hop bush - I don't think it can be used for beer brewing....

Yeah thought of that scenario just after I posted.... My mate was talking to a guy who's involved in setting up the new fields and said they were spraying for that reason, cross-pollination. Good to see the aussie hop industry is expanding though.

 

[AndrewQLD]

I've posted this info somewhere on here before, according to Coopers Kentish hops from England were used initially, they then moved to hop varieties grown in New Zealand before POR was developed in Australia.

Andrew

 

[[email protected]]

Good to see the aussie hop industry is expanding though.

+1 to that. I've added Huonville to my list of "must visit one day" places as well.

 

[kevo]

Interesting, I always consider Coopers beers as a bit of a connection with the country's past.

I always think to myself that the beer is like 'tasting' back in time...

The thought only occured to me today that the ingredients would be quite different now compared to their early days (as is to be expected) but had never considered that some of the current ingredients - hops - didn't even exist in those early days...

Kev

 

[HoppingMad]

I heard Pride of Kent, but you'd probably have to check the brewery themselves. East Kent Goldings would be the other. Are these one and the same? :blink: No idea.

There are a few hops that pretty much disappeared from Aussie Hopfields after Pride of Ringwood came about I gather. The high alpha of POR and how well it grew here meant that a lot of commercials ceased to worry about using anything else. One hop that got it's butt kicked by the POR I'm told is Vienna Gold. From what I understand it was used by quite a few Australian breweries pre-POR. In what beer is anyone's guess.

In terms of where the hops would have been sourced from, I would wager that Coopers being an Adelaide brew that they would have come from Lobethal, SA. This area has quite a long history of hop growing and I'm told hops still grow wild there. Pure speculation though.

Hopper.