What are hops? Hops are the flowers of a climbing perennial plant that are a major component in brewing beer. Shaped like a cone they grow on vines up to twenty-five feet high. They are grown around the world in moderate climates with plenty of sunshine and some of the most important producers include Germany, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, and the USA.

The key ingredient is a resin that contains volatile acids that add characteristic aromas and bitterness to beer as well as key anti-microbial qualities that for a long time in brewing provided an essential preservative role. When brewers need to add bitter flavours to their brew the hops are add when the wort is being boiled. If the beer needs lots of hoppy aromas more hops can be added as the liquid is cooled or even after fermentation. This is called dry hopping. Some hops add more bitterness, some are more scented, and some combine both functions. The aroma profile of hops includes citrus fruits including grapefruit, lychees, peach, melon, and passionfruit, fresh herbs, newly cut grass and earhty notes.

Prior to using hops brewers added bitter herbs like bog myrtle and yarrow. Today brewers still use herbs and other aromatics like orange peel and juniper to add more flavour dimensions to their brews. One of the first records of using hops was in 882 A.D. The abbot of the Corbie Benedictine monastery in Picardy in France recorded his orders rules for the running an abbey. This included the collection of wild hops for making beer.

In 1516 the Duchy of Bavaria enacted the famous Reinheitsgebot or purity law which restricted the ingredients of beer to purely water, barley, and hops. At this time yeasts role was not understood in the brewing process. The law also set the price that could be charged to prevent profiteering by unscrupulous innkeepers. Although the law has been amended to include other ingredients such as fining it remains a strong marketing tool for German breweries and has been adapted by other beer producers around the world.

By the eighteen hundreds, brewers in England were producing heavily hopped beers that were sent to India. It was discovered that the long sea journey improved the finished beer, and it was hugely popular. India Pale Ales or IPAs were soon exported across the globe to New Zealand and Australia. India was often dropped, and the beer was simply known as Export Pale. In the UK, the popularity of IPA declined alongside real ales after the Second World War but reemerged in the nineteen nineties. Now, both UK and American-style hoppy IPAs are hugely popular.