Ludwig Narziß Award for Brewing Science granted in Lille

Lille | The 39th EBC Congress which took place in Lille, France, 26–30 May 2024, provided the perfect stage for the 10th presentation of the Ludwig Narziß Award for Brewing Science. The winning entry for the most practically relevant BrewingScience publication of 2023, which was selected by an international jury of experts and the editorial board of the scientific magazine BrewingScience, once again focused on hops, specifically on the effects of hop diseases on hops and beer quality.

In front of around 200 participants at an EBC lecture session, BrewingScience Editor-in-Chief Dr Lydia Junkersfeld announced the winner: “The Impact of diseases on the quality of hops for use in brewing beer”, (BrewingScience 76 (2023), no 11/12, pp. 133–146), by Dr. Adrian Forster and Dr. Florian Schüll (HVG Hopfenverwertungsgenossenschaft e.G.); and Andreas Gahr (Hopfenveredlung St. Johann).

Practically relevant and highly topical

The laudatory speech for the winners and the winning entry was given by former EBC President Dr Stefan Lustig, member of the Editorial Board of BrewingScience: “In times where climate influences and extreme weather conditions ranging from drought to flooding are putting pressure on hop cultivation, the use of plant protection products is also increasingly reaching its limits.Florian, Andreas and Adrian's research focused on the effects of pest and disease infestation on the characteristics of hops and the impact on beer quality. This is a very important area of research, as there are many discussions every crop year about the rejection or devaluation of infected hop samples,” he emphasised in his laudatory speech.

In their article, the authors analysed the influence of different degrees and causes of infection on alpha acids, hop storage index, mycotoxins and chlorophyll content. No significant difference could be found between hops and beers brewed from infected and non-infected hops. The slight decrease in chlorophyll content does not appear to have any influence on the formation of the desired secondary metabolites.

“These findings can help the hop and brewing sector to secure the supply of hops and contribute to the sustainable growth of hops by making deliberate decisions based on this research,” said Dr Lustig, praising the research work.

The annual research prize is endowed with EUR 2500. The symbolic cheque was presented in Lille by Dr. Frank Braun, 1st Chairman of the Association of Former Weihenstephan Brewers (VeW), whose Weihenstephan Jubilee Foundation 1905 administers the financial endowment for the prize, which comes from donations.