Are new Danish hop varieties the solution?
There have not been developed Danish hop varieties for over 100 years at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory, but that is being changed now.
For centuries, hops have been an indispensable raw material in beer, acting as a preservative and giving the beer its well-known bitter taste. Hops have also become a tool to make the beer stand out when discussing craft beer. And craft beer and microbreweries have gained traction worldwide. There are 261 microbreweries in Denmark alone.
The Second World War was the starting point for Danish hops
Carlsberg is the world’s third-largest brewery, which develops its raw materials and ingredients. Except for hops, there has been no primary Danish production for over 100 years. Carlsberg’s founder, J.C. Jacobsen, wanted the best hops for his Bavarian beers in the first years after the foundation, so he imported the hops from Germany. It simply didn’t add up to growing hops in Denmark in terms of price, yield, or quality.
However, that was to change with the onset of the Second World War. The Nazi Regime took power in Germany in 1933, the same year that Øjvind Winge became head of the Physiology Department at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory. Winge could sense that self-sufficiency became a necessity if you wanted to brew beer during the war.
Winge spent most of his time breeding barley and hops on the experimental farm Nordgården near Herfølge. He spent hours on the plantation to find the clones most resistant to the Scandinavian climate. He succeeded in developing ten so-called landrace hops that were particularly robust against Danish wind and weather during a time when the war made it impossible to import hops from Germany. However, a few years after the war, they returned to importing German hops, as the Danish hops could not compete on price or quality.
No big import adventure
However, the Carlsberg Research Laboratory has thrown itself into developing new Danish hop varieties. Even though Winge’s hop production was discontinued in the mid-1950s, his breeding method did not fail.
Although hops are unlikely to become a major Danish import adventure, according to Carlsberg Research Laboratory, it provides the opportunity to give the beer a Danish character and distinctiveness, just like when you talk about ‘terroir’ in wine. Carlsberg’s Husbryggeriet Jacobsen has also used Winge’s hops in various versions of their experimental beer.
Carlsberg’s hops most often come from countries such as Germany, the USA, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic, and each place tastes different. It is, therefore, interesting to see what new Danish hop varieties will add to the beer.