Dept. of shameless self-promotion: A little while ago, Luigi nibbled a heart-warming tale of beer and genebanks; to whit, a hop variety that British brewers rejected as too tasty in 1960, and that found new favour as in-your-face American craft brews changed some beer drinkers’ ideas of what their tipple should taste like. And the reason hop OZ97a was still around for brewers to re-evaluate was that it had been maintained in a field genebank for more than 60 years. Meat and drink for the latest Eat This Podcast, where I interviewed Mark Dredge, the beer writer who broke the story.
Who knows what other flavours lurk uncharacterised among the diverse hops?