He plans to use some of the hops in the research brewery, Wiersema said. Beer made at the brewery can only be used for research purposes at this point.

Scoggins said she has been talking to local brewers about the possibility of providing them some hops for their brews, as well.

Samples of the cones are also going to Tech’s enology laboratory Director Ken Hurley, who will do chemical analyses. He can quantify the levels of bittering agents and aroma compounds, and compare what he finds with what has been published in the literature. Hurley has a lot of samples to run before drawing any conclusions, but so far he said the levels of the oils have been higher than expected for Virginia hops.

Hurley’s hypothesis is that Virginia hops produce more flavor and aroma compounds than the same plants grown elsewhere. Last year he received $7,500 from the Virginia Agricultural Council to study this facet of hops. If the evidence bears out his suspicion, it would be a powerful marketing tool for Virginia growers, and likely spur more to branch out to hops.

It’s a highly interdisciplinary project, Scoggins said. Even the architecture and design school is in on it. Chip Clark from that school designed the trial yard, which other growers can use as a model for their own operations, she said.

Scoggins said it will take at least three years to determine how well each hops variety will do in Virginia’s challenging environment.