Renaissance for British hop growers

British hop growers have the most exciting prospects since the 1960s, said Simon Jackson, Chief Executive of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), speaking at the presentation ceremony for the Institute’s annual “English Hop Competition”.

“The past five to ten years have seen an explosion of small breweries across the UK. The cask ale market is worth GBP 1.4 billion and growing by 5 percent annually. There are now over 700 small breweries in the UK and over half of these have opened in the last ten years. Brewers are increasingly looking for high quality locally grown raw materials.”

The English Hop Competition dates back to 1944 and is judged by a panel of Master Brewers who draw on their experience as Head Brewers to assess the quality of the hops samples submitted. The 2010 English Hop Awards were held at the Hook Norton Brewery in the end of January 2011.

Hops from fifteen growers were shortlisted for the final judging session from over 100 entries from the 2010 English Hop harvest. The overall champion was the Redsell Partnership for their sample of East Kent Golding.

Keith Bott, Chairman of SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers said: “UK beer drinkers are showing an enormous thirst for distinctive beers brewed with high quality locally grown ingredients. This prestigious annual hop competition is a great shop window for brewers to see the vast range of different hop varieties grown in the UK. Each has its own distinctive character that can be used to brew beers with a dazzling array of different flavours.”