Speaker
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Mathias SchuetzInstructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic UniversityMathias is an Instructor with expertise in plant genetics biochemistry. He has over 16 years experience working in various roles in academia and industry as a leader in fundamental and applied research. Since 2018, his research program focuses on plant breeding and functional genomics of hops. NextGen Hops is a variety development program that was established at the Applied Genomics Center at KPU in partnership with the BC Hop Grower Association and its members. They are employing leading edge genomic technologies to develop new hop varieties that are adapted to grow in our region and make excellent beer.
BC Hop Varieties for BC Brewers
Canada imports nearly 2,500 tons of hops for our domestic brewing industry. In the 1930s and 1940s, the BC Fraser Valley was the largest hop production area in the British Commonwealth. KPU and the members of the BC Hop Growers Association established a hop variety development program in 2019. The aim of this program is to re-establish a robust domestic hop production industry and bring value-added hop varieties to BC brewers. With climate change-driven drought and extreme temperatures becoming more common, growing water intensive crops, such as hops, will continue to become less sustainable in current production centres in the USA (e.g., Yakima) and more viable in BC. This presentation will provide an overview of the hop variety development program, including the promising hop varieties that have been developed thus far. Chemical and sensory analysis data derived from locally-grown hop varieties, as well as imported hop products, will be presented in the context of hop and beer quality.
HOPS SELECTION:
Time: 12:45pm – 2:30pm