Different varieties bring different characteristics to a beer and must be added at various stages of the brewing process for the best result. Hops added at the start of the boil will add a pleasant bitterness to the brew, while ‘late' hops - added at the end of the boil - impart aroma. Hops can also be added during maturation, or to the cask itself, to generate additional aroma while the beer is stored.
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Hops
Hops are delicate, cone-shaped flowers that are synonymous with our home county of Kent. Oast houses and hop gardens are icons of the garden of England, with hop poles and wirework evoking nostalgia among those who remember the hop picking heyday of the 20th century.
Today, Kent is one of only two major hop-growing regions in the UK, with brewers from across the world prizing Kent's spicy, peppery hop varieties. In particular, our signature hop, the East Kent Golding, has Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) safeguarding the character imparted by the terroir.
What do hops add to beer?
Local hops
Harvested over three weeks in late August and early September, Kentish hops are dried to 10% moisture in oast houses, before being vacuum packed to preserve their freshness.
More than 80% of the hops we use are sourced from Kent. Humulus lupulus (the botanical name for hops) contains more than 1,000 complex compounds in the form of resins and essential oils. These add bitterness and aroma to beer, with each hop variety imparting a range of different characteristics to the final brew. They also serve as a natural preservative.
The National Hop Collection
In 2007, Shepherd Neame provided land as a home for the National Hop Collection at Queen Court Farm. The Collection contains almost two hundred historic varieties of hops, which are not only preserved in this ‘living museum’, but are also being used to breed new varieties for commercial production.
Popular hop varieties
- East Kent Goldings: spice, citrus
- First Gold: spice, citrus and orange peel
- Challenger: floral, spicy, some fruit
- Fuggles: earthy, grassy
- Cascade: lemony citrus