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Wittenden
16-03-2010, 20:49
The Reluctant Scooper is running an A-Z of hops over on his site:http://www.reluctantscooper.co.uk/


It's probably a cut and paste job, but worthy all the same.

Eddie86
16-03-2010, 21:57
Good find, thank you

Wittenden
20-03-2010, 16:18
What about this?:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/7481843/Ale-lover-brews-worlds-bitterest-beer.html
A tad extreme, methinks. I had a bottle of Sierra Nevada Torpedo(which I quite enjoyed) at I thnk 68 IBU-quite enuogh for me!

Wittenden
22-04-2011, 13:20
Wearing my plantswoman's spouse's hat, I belong to Plant Heritage, a plant conservation charity,which administers the National Collection Scheme. One of the newest Collections is that of the genus Humulus, maintained by Wye Hops Ltd and shepherd Neame. The business end is on a farm near Canterbury, and the display part is on Shep's farm. I think access is sometimes available through Shep's visitor centre. Pretty well every commercially available hop in the world owes at least part of its ancestry to the former Wye College breeding system, closed down after a hundred years by Imperial College, which swallowed up Wye College. A group of growers clubbed together to found Wye Hops, enabling Dr Peter Darby to continue his work breeding new dwarf and disease resistant varieties.
If I see an electronic version of the article I've just plagairised, I'll post a link.We'll be selling our plants at a plant heritage fair at Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking on the first of May. Denbies is the new home of Surrey Hills brewery-I hope there's a brewert tap on site, as refreshment will be needed...

Wittenden
13-08-2011, 19:15
Wye in Kent is holding a beer festival in the village hall on Saturday 17th September celebrating the work of Wye College in developing new varieties of hops. Unfortunately, I don't have any more information, and won't be able to go, as we'll be working that day.

Wittenden
13-09-2011, 22:24
Wye in Kent is holding a beer festival in the village hall on Saturday 17th September celebrating the work of Wye College in developing new varieties of hops. Unfortunately, I don't have any more information, and won't be able to go, as we'll be working that day.
At risk of replying to my own post, I've found this press release. It looks wonderful, but unforunately, we will be working.

A Celebration of Kentish Hops
An unusual beer festival, maybe the first of its kind, will take place in Wye Village Hall in Kent on 17 September from 13-00 to 23-00. It will be devoted to hops, the variety of flavours and aromas that they bring to real ale and the role they play in preserving its freshness and quality. The hops were all developed at Wye College of Agriculture, latterly under a team led by Dr Peter Darby.
All the beers on offer were available at the Great British Beer Festival and come from all parts of the UK. Award winners will be featured, such as Golden Salamander and Ruby Mild (both Challenger hops) together with Castle Rock Preservation Bitter (Northern Brewer and Sovereign). The tastes range from Quantock Stout (Brewer’s Gold) through Outstanding White wheat (Target) to Purple Moose Snowdonia (Pioneer) and Tryst Raj IPA (First Gold).
There will also be a good representation of Kent brewers almost all of whom use Wye hops (Abigale, Old Dairy, The Foundry, Hopdaemon, Westerham, Gadds). Well known brands will be racked alongside, such as Wells Bombardier (Challenger), Harvey’s Best (25% Progress, 25% Bramling Cross) and Shepherd Neame Kent Best (Admiral and Challenger).
It was Shepherd Neame that enabled Dr Darby’s work to survive DEFRA’s withdrawal of support in 2004 and Imperial College’s closure of Wye College in 2008. He continues to develop new strains to add to his brilliant portfolio of traditional English hops for visitors to admire at China Farm, near Canterbury. First Gold climbs to half the height of traditional varieties. Boadicea needs fewer chemical sprays and points the way towards organic hops. (This information is from Roger Protz’s Annual Hop Lecture at Faversham Brewery in October 2008)
The beer festival is to mark the opening of the Wye Heritage Centre in the oldest part of the former college, the Old Latin School, built in 1447. It aims, amongst other things, to preserve and re-energise the ethos and traditions of Wye College. In this case it is the tradition of growing our own produce to reduce the volume of food imports and the huge debts that are strangling us.
Most organic hops are imported from New Zealand. Real ale without English hops is an oxymoron. The festival aims to help put this right by celebrating and publicising the virtues of English and, in particular, Wye hops.
Wye Village Hall is 3 minutes walk up the gentle hill from Wye station.
Trains from Charing Cross leave at 10 and 40 minutes past the hour (Waterloo , London Bridge, Ashford and Wye 3, 9 , 76 and 89 minutes later) until 17.40, when they leave once an hour until 23.40. Trains from Canterbury leave at 36 and 7 minutes past the hour, arriving at Wye 14 minutes later, until 20.04.
The last trains to Ashford and London leave Wye at 21.19 and 23.02.
Entrance to the Festival is £3. A locally designed tankard is also £3 (refundable

aleandhearty
14-09-2011, 17:47
An unusual beer festival, maybe the first of its kind, will take place in Wye Village Hall in Kent on 17 September from 13-00 to 23-00. It will be devoted to hops


Real ale without English hops is an oxymoron.


The festival sounds wonderful and would certainly make a beeline for it, if I lived in the area. Not sure I entirely agree with that statement though.

Wittenden
21-11-2011, 14:51
Ed, the brewer at Old Dairy, has just posted this article:http://edsbeer.blogspot.com/2011/11/brief-history-of-cultivated-hops-in.html

We are members of Plant Heritage-I'm hoping to have a look at the Collection next year.