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Humulus lupulus …
… and other bitter truths
Hops and women and men
A question that is asked again and again is: why is it that a drink that is particularly popular among men is made
using only female hop plants? And worse than that: why is it that all male (hop) plants in the Hallertau region are
systematically eradicated and, to add insult to injury, because this is required by law? In this column we’re going to
clarify a few things about man-killing women and misogynistic men. But actually, it’s all about hops...
Anyone travelling through the Hallertau region in late
summer and early autumn will see green walls of hops
everywhere, in many different shades of green and laden
with hop cones of all sizes. And they will all be fruits
of the female hop. There will not be a single male hop
plant to be seen anywhere, because they have all been
systematically eradicated. But why?
Eradication of male hop plants
The guilty party is the Bavarian “Regulation for the control
of wild hops” of 21 November 1956. The regulation states
“in districts in Bavaria in which hops are grown, [it is] in
fact mandatory that each year by no later than 15 June all
wild hop plants (hedge hops) growing on their territory
are to be prevented from flowering by cutting down
their bines and cleared, if possible, by cutting out their
rootstocks”. But why all this effort? What do hop farmers
have against males? Male hop plants produce pollen
which then pollinates the female plant, which promptly
produces seeds – and that must be prevented at all costs,
because
• These seeds have a high weight, but no characteristics that
are of value to the brewer. In other words, the brewer
would get more weight, but fewer useful substances.
• Also, the hop plants would be fertilised at different
times and, as a result, the cones would ripen at different
times. And because the plant wants to reproduce, it
would open the cone leaves so that the seeds could
fall out. The result: further loss of valuable substances
(lupulin, etc.).
• Fertilisation and seed formation cost energy, and the
plant would extract this from the cones. Consequently,
the composition of the compounds in the hop cone would
change. For example, the alpha acid and oil content of
fertilised cones is lower, as is the foam stability of the
beers brewed using these cones.
Therefore, throughout the Hallertau region all male hop
plants are “murdered”. In the entire region? No, there
is one single field, in Freising, where male hop plants
are allowed to grow. They are needed for the purpose
of breeding new hop varieties. Male hop plants are not
needed for reproduction, however, because it is necessary
to restrict reproduction to a vegetative form in order to
preserve the plants’ genetic characteristics. Any plant grown
from a seed would be a completely new plant, you see.
Women and bitterness
The answer to the question of why more men than women
drink beer may of course lie in the fact that far more males
feel more greatly attracted to females – and therefore
men prefer a beverage which is produced using only
female cones. But perhaps the reason why many women
(and significantly fewer men) spurn beer is because the
(supposed) bitterness of the hops puts them off. But can
that really be the reason?
On the one hand, people drink coffee, Aperol, Campari,
etc – all of them bitter drinks. And, on the other hand,
there are beers that most certainly cannot be described as
bitter. As with so many other things, it is probably purely
and simply prejudice that makes people spurn beer for its
bitterness.
There are more than 100 different beer styles, and there’s
a beer to suit every taste. The most difficult thing is to
persuade a confirmed “non-beer drinker” to take a first
mouthful and to put their prejudice about beer to one
side. If the beer in question has a unique aroma and/or
unexpected flavour notes, the bitterness suddenly ceases
to be of any significance. That way, you can turn (virtually)
any non-beer drinker into a convinced beer connoisseur.
Then suddenly even beers with more than 50 BUs are no
longer too bitter...And that’s the bitter truth...
With the kind support of: Joh. Barth & Sohn GmbH & Co. KG | www.barthhaasgroup.com