Hops - History

History

Hops originate from China from where it moved east- and west-wards. The first documented instance of hop cultivation was in 736, in the Hallertau region of present-day Germany, although the first mention of the use of hops in brewing in that country was 1079. Not until the 13th century did hops begin to start threatening the use of gruit for flavoring however this was also depended on the taxes which the nobility levied on either Hops or gruit. This made the brewer then quickly switch to either gruit or hops. In Britain, hopped beer was first imported from Holland around 1400, but hops were condemned in 1519 as a "wicked and pernicious weed". In 1471, Norwich, England, banned use of the plant in the brewing of ale (beer was the name for fermented malt liquors bittered with hops; only in recent times are the words often used as synonyms). Hops were however imported from France, Holland and Germany and naturally import duty was raised on those but it was not until 1524 that hops were first grown in southeast (Kent) of England when they were introduced as an agricultural crop by Dutch farmers. Therefore in the Hop industry there were many words which originally were Dutch words such as Oast House which is derived from the Dutch word "eest huis" which means drying house. A scuppet which is a large wooden spade used on the hop floor to turn the hops into the hanging pocket or bale which is derived from the Dutch word "schop". Hops were then grown as far north as Aberdeen as they were grown near breweries because of the infra structure. It was another century before hop cultivation began in the present-day United States, in 1629.