Hops and Human History
Hops have been dated back to Europe in the 736 in the Hallertau region of Bavaria. One of the first records of this plant being used in beer dates to 822, from a monastery in Germany. It spread rapidly all over Europe because of beer production. It helped aid in balancing the sweetness of the malt, and increased its preservative value through the roof. Now alcohol content could be reduce since it no longer needed to aid in preservation. Originally, many English were against this “wicked and pernicious weed”, but later used it extensively. The style of beer commonly known as the IPA, India Pale Ale, gains much of its characteristics as a beer from the use of hops. These beers were originally pale ales brewed with large amounts of hops to help preserve the beer over long journeys at sea. As from the name, the crews of the Dutch East India Company took much of this brew on the long ship ride from Britain to India, a trip most other beers could not handle! Some of these styles of beer are so hopped, they are can be described to taste “green”. That’s a lot of hops!
The Native Americans have been known to use hops for a whole host of medical reasons. From inducing sleep, bladder problems, anxiety, fever, even to breast and womb problems, hops were used. In the past couple of years, more pharmaceutical research has been done for the uses of this plant! However, the only real sustained use for H. lupulus is beer brewing.
Below are some links to videos about US hop production: