Kim Nguyen
what i’m working on
A Taste of Terroir A new hop terroir study could change the way we drink beer forever interview by Jeremy Storton
FOR YEARS, BREWERS have claimed the ability to taste the difference between hops grown in one place and the same variety grown elsewhere. However, beer professionals have accepted hop terroir on faith in the absence of hard data. That is until Liz Coleman, of Coleman Agriculture, had a conversation with international hop expert and Oregon State University fermentation professor Dr. Thomas Shellhammer. She asked if he knew of any documentation supporting the notion of hop terroir. He didn’t. At that moment, the seeds of a hop terroir study were sown, the results of which were harvested last fall. Coleman Agriculture partnered with Shellhammer, as well as Dr. Elizabeth Verhoeven and Dr. Shaun Townsend and independent researcher Andy Gallagher at Red Hill Soil. Not only will they continue the study, but what they have already learned may change the face and future of the beer industry. We talked to Coleman about the study. What role has Coleman Agriculture played in the storied history of Oregon hops? The Coleman family were pioneers who came out on the Oregon Trail in 1847. The family has had a long farming tradition here in the Willamette Valley ever since. Robert Thomas Coleman helped start the Oregon Hop Commission and was the first president in 1964. The Colemans have since come to be the largest grower in Oregon. What exactly is hop terroir? Hop terroir is a combination of environmental conditions, especially soil and climate in which hops are grown. Terroir gives beer its unique flavor and aroma. Understanding the history of our soils and their makeup gives us the capability to know how to best care for and manage them. We believe this understanding will help us with variety placement and the way we manage pests and diseases. 52 1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE
Liz Coleman helped start a hops terroir study.
What did you learn from the hop terroir study? By studying the soil, the climate and the hop chemistry within four of our micro-regions in the Willamette Valley, and completing the study with a brewing analysis, we did find, in fact, that there are notable differences at the sensory level. So, we believe there is a link between hop makeup and terroir. Having said that, we’ve just begun, and from here our goal is to create a history of data while digging deeper into the ‘why.’ What happens to Oregon beer now that we have this knowledge? Regional distinction, I believe, could create a new foundation of information for brewers as they achieve greater levels of their craft. This is where it gets magical. It’s a very special day to have a brewer come out and tour the farm with our sixth-generation hop master, John
MARCH | APRIL 2020
Coleman, and our hop team. They get to have a conversation and make the connection between bine and brew. It’s a pure connection that wasn’t there before. How will this impact Oregon beer drinkers? Terroir culture and regionality already play a role in consumers’ choices for their selections, and their choices become part of the story that differentiates and defines a brand. So, very much like wine, cultivating an overall sense of place is what makes a beer crafted in Oregon different than one crafted in Germany or elsewhere. It’s that sense of place and relation, this emotional tug that we have with anything special as human beings. We all want to connect to something. And, for a drink that has connected people for centuries, having that sense of place and belonging and connection is everything.
