Development of Aroma Hop Cultivars in New Zealand*

Aroma hops of central Europe have traditionally been regarded as the benchmark for brewing. As population density and plant disease problems have arisen in Europe, other areas of the world have begun the development and production of aroma hops to suit the brewer's traditional specifications. Unfortunately these “noble aroma” cultivars did not readily translocate to other growing areas, including the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand's 50-year-old hop research programme is producing “fingerprint” replicas of the noble aroma hop cultivars, now being used commercially by international brewing companies. The New Zealand aroma hop research programme concentrates on cultivars using the traditional Hallertauer mittelfrueh, Saazer, Tettnanger, Fuggle, Golding and Spalter varieties as parents in its breeding.