From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
Today’s silly climate scare from the BBC:
Climate change threatens to “call time” on the great British pint.
But scientists are working with the brewing industry to help save it.
Hops give bitter its taste but the plant doesn’t like the hotter, drier conditions we’ve experienced in recent decades and production has plummeted.
Researchers in Kent are isolating hop genes in the hope of producing more climate-change resilient varieties.
They also want to produce more intense flavours that are now becoming popular.
“Without it, the British pint is going to die off,” Danielle Whelan of the Shepherd Neame brewery said of the work.
“We are just going to be importing beer and we won’t have the culture that goes with it anymore.”
Warmer, drier conditions have also affected the trademark bitter flavour hops gives beer. And the worry is that because of climate change, the problem is only going to get worse. Eddie Gadd, the head brewer at Ramsgate Brewery said that it was already having an impact.
“Climate change is very relevant to me,” he said.
“I buy most of my hops from Kent and I’ve seen the harvests over the past 10 or 12 years going up and down. It has been a real rollercoaster.
“The growers have been feeling the impact and the search for drought-resistant genes is going to be exceptionally important.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68636451
As usual, the facts are the opposite of the BBC’s concocted story.
Over the last decade, both hop outputs and yields have proven to be remarkably stable, in comparison to earlier decades.
https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare
As for the idea that a slightly warmer climate will destroy the hop industry, the south of England marks the northern edge of climate suitable for commercial hop production.
If hops can be successfully grown places like Central Europe, which have much hotter summers, they certainly won’t have any problems in Kent!
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