what happened to the English hop Herald??

[beer gut]

Hi all I have a question what happened too the English hop Herald? I never used the hop as such it's just it was there then it was gone? I know we can get Pioneer what which is Herald sister it's just strange I am not sure if I should file a missing hop report too the hop police. If I remember rightly it wasn't doing well on the selling front. I find it just weird.

[seymour]

Killed off by invasive Norman hops? heh, heh.

[beer gut]

Very funny Seymour. I think we should fill in a missing hop form and do some flyers and posters. I just find it strange it was there then gone and I have never seen it anywhere nor mentioned in any recipes.

[seymour]

Yeah, I hear you. I can't say exactly what happened to Herald, but she was an experimental cultivar from 1996 with very low acreage to begin with, so perhaps growers simply replaced it in the meantime with something even newer and more exciting. I've read Herald was low yielding (a turn-off for growers) and had crazy-high cohumulone (a turn-off for many drinkers), so she was fighting an uphill battle all along. Plus, despite the many benefits, I don't think low-trellis hops have been integrated as widely as originally expected.

My personal impression (correct me if I'm wrong, Scuppeteer) is that for generations the English hops industry was ultra-conservative to meet ultra-conservative brewers' demands. Yes, there were some notable breeding programs which inadvertently led to some exciting new varieties, but the motivation was always simply to improve disease- and pest-resistance, yield, etc…not to come up with something all new. Ironically, many of your cast-offs like Northern Brewer, Bullion, Brewers Gold, Challenger, etc lived on in North America and Germany, but not England. You guys just kept doubling-down on tried-and-true Fuggles and Goldings replacements, see. Nowadays with the obsession over pungent New World IPAs, more English breweries are finally demanding new and exciting English hop varieties too. Like I said, you've been producing a few great oddballs all along, they just never caught-on commercially. It seems to me, English hops growers are now frantically "playing catch-up," throwing everything at the wall just to see what sticks, and quickly abandoning any varieties which aren't immediate success-stories.

I'm over-simplifying the complexities of agro-business, but you get the idea. As you eluded to, Herald's siblings Pioneer and Pilgrim caught on better, thus becoming better business bets, so probably Herald got left behind. To the growers' credit: I know their field space is limited and expensive, and they must juggle countless trade-offs and profitability pressures every growing season.

But you liked Herald, huh? Sounds like it might be kind of an English Chinook or Mosaic. I've never used it, but I'm a big fan of Flyer and Archer, which are other new English hop cultivars hanging on for dear life. It sounds like you and I feel the same: not all English hops need to be East Kent Goldings, but they don't all need to be Admiral, either. How about a diverse spectrum for brewers to choose from? Just one more reason to grow your own.

http://www.hopslist.com/hops/dual-purpo ... 724-herald
http://beerlegends.com/herald-hops

[scuppeteer]

You've pretty much hit it there Seymour. For too long the industry was bound by the bland big breweries who were only interested in high alpha hops as a way to reduce their expenditure on raw material. Thankfully with the explosion of breweries in the UK over the past few years they are demanding aroma hops more and more and are willing to pay more for a good hop.

Several farmers that I know have always said if you contract with us, we will grow them. Unfortunately the quantities used at work don't warrant a deal being made as it would not be viable for the farmer. I have 2 or 3 wild hops that I know would be good, but at the same time when I approach a farm they simply don't have the space to accommodate a small experiment. Any wild hop will perform very differently under commercial conditions so I can't say if what I have would be that good. The flavours are outstanding but when it comes to a proper yield and disease resistance who knows.

The greatest low trellis is, without doubt, First Gold. They should've stopped there as Boadicea and Sovereign are bloody awful. I have a feeling that someone still grows Herald, might have to enquire with the Doctor!

[seymour]

...Any wild hop will perform very differently under commercial conditions so I can't say if what I have would be that good. The flavours are outstanding but when it comes to a proper yield and disease resistance who knows...

In my experience, wild/native/naturalized hops are often the most disease- and pest-resistant and drought-tolerant of all. Thanks to many generations of natural selection, if you've found a prolific plant growing wild, it's there because it has adapted to survive against all odds. And if you live near historic English hops growing districts, you can assume it descended from worthwhile brewing cultivars too. That's not a given with wild hops over here.

[timbo41]

Interesting thread with some well informed views. I've also wondered about old varieties like kms and early bird. I believe I'm right in saying that a lot of varieties are now clumped together as EKG, which is perhaps a shame. I also like archer as you know Seymour, flyer not so much, and although I've dry hopped with Boadicea, and got a fairly earthy aroma to my nose, not used it anywhere else.

[scuppeteer]

...Any wild hop will perform very differently under commercial conditions so I can't say if what I have would be that good. The flavours are outstanding but when it comes to a proper yield and disease resistance who knows...

In my experience, wild/native/naturalized hops are often the most disease- and pest-resistant and drought-tolerant of all. Thanks to many generations of natural selection, if you've found a prolific plant growing wild, it's there because it has adapted to survive against all odds. And if you live near historic English hops growing districts, you can assume it descended from worthwhile brewing cultivars too. That's not a given with wild hops over here.

This is true but usually whilst they are in situ in the hedge that they are growing. Pests and disease are more likely to make a meal of whatever else is growing rather than the unpleasant hop. Leave a hop in the open, such as full garden and the bugs make do.
Dr Darby has always said, if you find a hop put it in a commercial garden, then you will see its true value. Who are we to question his knowledge!

[seymour]

Excellent points as always, Scupps.

[seymour]

...Any wild hop will perform very differently under commercial conditions so I can't say if what I have would be that good. The flavours are outstanding but when it comes to a proper yield and disease resistance who knows...

...Dr Darby has always said, if you find a hop put it in a commercial garden, then you will see its true value...

At the other end of the spectrum, check this out. As you recall, Scupps, several years ago I sprouted seeds from a favourite commercial hop variety, tended to the seedlings for a season, then planted them out in the wild. I checked the sites recently and many of my plants are still intact, coming back strong this year (strong in my opinion, anyway, considering they have no TLC nor trellis, and are faced with fierce competition.)

Here are a couple pics:





In case you wanna read the full original thread: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=57692&start=30#p628787