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An important foundation stone is being laid for the beer of the coming year: From the end of August, harvest time is upon us in the European hop-growing regions. The most important and largest contiguous hop-growing area in the world is located in the German Hallertau region. Here, different varieties of aroma hops and bitter hops have been grown for more than 200 years, currently more than 30 in number, with an upward trend.
A very special hop variety is the Strisselspalt. However, it is not grown in the Hallertau, but in Alsace, mainly in the region around Strasbourg. Connoisseurs refer to it as the "caviar of hops", mainly due to its extraordinarily fine aroma. Strisselspalt hops are used prominently in the 1664 Lager of Brasseries Kronenbourg, among others. Together with selected malts and exclusive yeast cultures, Strisselspalt gives 1664 Lager its fine taste.
The farmers have been letting their hop plants grow upwards along wires since April. The bines can climb up to 30 centimeters in a single day - no plant travels faster in our latitudes. When the hops have reached harvest maturity, they are brought in with a so-called ripping device, which is mounted on or harnessed to a tractor. The cones are then separated from the bines by machine. In the past, this work was done by hand, but nowadays it is done at most in the context of competitions or for the purpose of entertaining groups of visitors. The plucked cones must be dried as quickly as possible to guarantee their shelf life. To do this, the moisture content is reduced from over 80 to around 10 percent. The hops are then ready for delivery and further processing.
More than 90 percent of the world's hop production is used for beer production. Only female hop plants are suitable for brewing beer or other types of processing. This is because only their cones contain lupulin, which is valuable for the brewing process and to which we owe, among other things, the pretty head on our beer. In order not to endanger the quality of the harvest, the cultivation of male plants is even prohibited in classic hop-growing regions. Overall, hops are responsible for the bitterness and the typical aroma of the beer. That's why heavily hopped beers taste significantly more bitter, as in the case of the currently very popular IPAs, for example. In any case, we are hoping for a good hop harvest again this year and agree with the motto of our Bavarian beer friends: Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalt's.
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