Ep84 — Getting Hands On With New Hop Varieties

Hops have dominated the beer conversation for decades. Modern beer culture has been built on the back of their vast trellises, the majority of which today stand in Yakima, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. 

Many North American hops, including Cascade, Centennial and Simcoe, could arguably be called legacy varieties, such has been the length and size of their impact on the beer industry. Even Citra, which was first commercially released in 2007 and is now the most cultivated hop variety in the world, is approaching 20 years of production. Without them, the beer we know and love today would smell and taste very differently indeed.

But as much as these hops have shaped beer as we know it, there has been no rest for hop merchants, or indeed the brewers who use their products day in, day out. There is a constant demand for new varieties offering up new flavours and aromas. This demand comes in part from drinkers, and indeed brewers themselves, but largely this constant development of new hop varieties—which can take up to a decade, sometimes more—is driven by the hop industry itself.

Think about it—every year sees billions of pounds worth of hops harvested across the hop growing regions of the word, encompassing hundreds, if not thousands of different varieties. Hop merchants are not only seeking that x-factor in terms of flavour, but they’re also looking for agronomic viability, and, indeed, strong profit margins. Hops can be notoriously difficult to grow, so while breeders are trying to figure out what’s going to make a new variety taste great, they’re also looking at other qualities like disease resistance, how much water input a variety needs to survive in a changing climate, and so on.

Krush—which until recently was known under its development name: HBC586—is a great example of this. In terms of its flavour and aroma it’s a riot of ripe mango, juicy peach and sun-ripened orange, but in terms of its agronomics it also requires less inputs than older varieties, making it more economical and more sustainable to produce.

If the sound of this has got your interest piqued, then you’re going to love our latest podcast. Recorded live at FyneFest 2025, in this episode Matthew chats to Robbie Harrigan, a UK-based sales representative for Yakima Chief Hops, plus Mark Cotterill of Beak Brewery in Lewes, and Brett Pemberton of Manchester’s Pomona Island. Together we chat about some exciting new hop varieties, including Krush, and taste the exciting results alongside a live audience. 

We’re able to produce The Pellicle Podcast directly thanks to our Patreon subscribers, and our sponsors Get ‘Er Brewed. If you’re enjoying this podcast, or the weekly articles we publish, please consider taking out a monthly subscription for less than the price of a pint a month.