Climate change threatens to “call time” on the great British pint.But scientists are working with the brewing industry to help save it.Hops give bitter its taste but the plant doesn’t like the hotter, drier conditions we’ve experienced in recent decades and production has plummeted.Researchers in Kent are isolating hop genes in the hope of producing more climate-change resilient varieties.They also want to produce more intense flavours that are now becoming popular.”Without it, the British pint is going to die off,” Danielle Whelan of the Shepherd Neame brewery said of the work.”We are just going to be importing beer and we won’t have the culture that goes with it anymore.”
Warmer, drier conditions have also affected the trademark bitter flavour hops gives beer. And the worry is that because of climate change, the problem is only going to get worse. Eddie Gadd, the head brewer at Ramsgate Brewery said that it was already having an impact.
“Climate change is very relevant to me,” he said.”I buy most of my hops from Kent and I’ve seen the harvests over the past 10 or 12 years going up and down. It has been a real rollercoaster.”The growers have been feeling the impact and the search for drought-resistant genes is going to be exceptionally important.”Why is the world getting warmer?
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It is an issue across Europe. An analysis published last year found that in some key hop-growing areas, there was a drop of nearly 20% in output.The new research is co-led by Dr Helen Cockerton of the University of Kent. She will be analysing the genetic code of hundreds of different varieties. Dr Cockerton will be searching for genes in plants that are drought-resistant which could be crossbred with plants that are currently grown for use in beer production.She will also be searching for genes that give beer added flavours, some of which may not be popular now, but could become fashionable in a few years’ time. The current trend is for a strong, “punchy” taste.”Brewers want good-tasting beer, so they need their hops to produce the flavour their customers want,” she said. “But the growers are more interested in having plants that are able to produce good yields in the field in the presence of diseases and droughts.”Our aim is to give plant breeders the information they need to do both.”
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Dr Cockerton is working with Dr Klara Hajdu, a hop breeder with Wye Hops. Dr Hajdu will breed the new varieties with the new drought, disease and flavour genes to see if they grow well in the field.
