Spotlight: Oregon Hops Abroad
At the turn of the 20th century, Britain's dominance in beer was no longer absolute--a pesky new kind of beer from the remote outback of Bohemia was gaining popularity--but it was still one of the most important brewing nations. British brewers were justifiably proud of their ales, with their rich local barley malts and delicate hops that gave them their distinctive character. What the brewers didn't emphasize were the foreign hops they tucked in with their Fuggles and Goldings--a rough-and-ready variety listed in their brewing logs as "Oregon hops." Britain didn't produce enough local hops for all the beer they were brewing, and they couldn't make their pale ales and milds without a little help from the Willamette Valley.
Oregon Hops Abroad
Farmers were harvesting commercial hops in Oregon in the late 1860s as local breweries were cropping up, but New York State still dominated the national industry. They would continue to do so until the 1890s, when the New York crop was increasingly destroyed by mildew and aphids. The dry summers of the West Coast proved to be a superior climate, and California, Washington, and Oregon all soon became major hop regions. Although Washington produces most of America's crop today, at the turn of the 20th century, Oregon was king.
West Coast hops were also renowned for their "preservative strength" and this made them attractive to British breweries, who regarded most imported hops as inferior. Take for example this report from 1907: "Foreign hops, such as those imported from Bavaria, Bohemia, America, Australia, and the Colonies, yield a decided harsh bitter flavour," wrote Frank Thatcher in A Treatise of Practical Brewing and Malting. Forced to use foreign hops, brewers used them only for bittering, reserving their own hops for flavor and aroma additions.
Still, they used quite a few American hops. Thatcher continues: "Usually, brewers employ one-fourth American hops for the production of mild ales, or even a larger percentage of other growths, but usually the limit does not reach or even exceed half foreign and half English."
Another source, H. Lloyd Hind (Brewing Science and Practice, 1943), gave an overview of the history of American hops, and Oregon's prominent role in British brewing:
"American hops had been used in Britain since the 19th century. The main West Coast hop-growing regions were Sonoma, Russian River and Sacramento in California; the Williamette Valley in Oregon; and the Yakima Valley in Washington State. The commonest variety was the Oregon, also known as Late Cluster. It was thought to be a cross between an English hop and wild American hops. It had a high lupulin content an excellent preservative qualities."
Blackcurrant
Oregon may have been the pick of the American litter, but there's no denying how little appreciated our country's hops were. When you read 19th and 20th century sources, they inevitably bring up American hops' strong flavor. H. Lloyd Hind describes it in typical language: "The only drawback was the strong blackcurrant flavour that meant it could not be used on its own in British Ales."
That description, "blackcurrant," may not resonate with modern ears. They weren't referring to the fruit, but the plant's leaves, and they meant to highlight what we would today call its "dank" or savory flavors. This perception of American hops lasted well into the craft era. "Blackcurrent" was out as a term of art, replaced by "catty" (referring to feline urine) as a description modern drinkers would identify. It was always described as a negative quality, and never as a mere matter of preference. It wasn't just the British--outside the US, no one seemed to like the quality of American hops. Germans described their hops as "noble" to emphasize the degenerate state of New World hops.
History has a wonderful sense of humor, though. Eventually, Americans would learn how to brew their own styles of beer with their native hops, and instead of trying to bury their flavor, they would lean into them. The flavors British spent centuries trying to bury in their beers came back in the form of American IPAs that won the heart of modern drinkers in Britain and across the globe. Especially in Great Britain, modern American hops became prized varieties and are now used broadly in English ales.
No one calls them "catty" anymore.
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