Oldest Hops Variety?

I would imagine it is on here somewhere but I just can't figure out the right search phrase. Soooo...I'm asking. What is the oldest Hops variety? Not looking for Pliny The Elders comments on Hops in 79 AD or the Picardy France monastery that cultivated Hops in 822 AD. No, I'm looking for the oldest Hops that are available to this day. Thanks!!

Pretty sure itd be one of the european noble hops like saaz or hallertau

but theres wild growing hops that we have no idea how long theyve been growing

Yeah, my guess would have to be Saaz, Hallertau or possibly Goldings or Fuggles?

I believe neomexicanus hops are just wild american hops, so I'm sure they're quite old as well.

It would definitely be one of the landraces. What matters here though is which clone because there are many of which likely originated from multiple original sources. Whether you're referring to Saaz, Hallertauer, Goldings, or Fuggle, they've all undergone numerous trials for selection of superior clones which were all lumped together as one "type" (e.g. Saaz-type hops, etc). This is a process which still occurs today in fact.

Goldings was likely not a landrace though, as it is thought to be a chance seedling that originated in a hopyard and it exhibited off-type characteristics compared to whatever variety was grown at the time.

Yes, BigMack, var. neomexicanus are just native US hops. These are primarily found in the southwestern US.

First off, forget Pliney and the monks. Its my assertion that the true "father" of using hops in beer is Saint Hildegard von Bingen. Look her up. Back on topic...

I agree with PBJ. The first "named" hop would have been something like a Golding (or its cousin Cantebury) or something similar from Germany/Czech. But you have to understand that at that time some (or maybe many) believed the cone needed to be fertilized in order to produce a good flavor. That means a lot of hops dropping seeds all over the field. The chance that the hop we call Golding today is identical to whatever was called "Golding" in 1790 is next to zero.

Likewise, in the US, we had the "cluster"...be it English Cluster, Wisconsin Cluster, NY cluster, Pacific Coast cluster...they were just fancy names for a hop that was a cross breed between something brought from Europe and something that was growing wild in the foothills of NY, WI, Massachusetts or wherever.

So the question is, what are you looking for? The oldest grown hop? Not going to find it. The oldest grown hop that still bears its original name? You could probably figure something out but it won't be exactly the same. The oldest variety that came out of the USDA breeding program or some other official program? That you could probably do...actually, I'll see what I can find.

GVH_Dan said:

So the question is, what are you looking for? The oldest grown hop? Not going to find it. The oldest grown hop that still bears its original name? You could probably figure something out but it won't be exactly the same. The oldest variety that came out of the USDA breeding program or some other official program? That you could probably do...actually, I'll see what I can find.

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Hi Dan,

Did you make any progress on this topic? If you check out my thread about 1900 Hops, you will see I am heading down the same road. Be curious to see what you come up with.

Thanks