The Hunt for Hops: Part 2 By: Ben Bakelaar



Way back in the spring, I wrote an article about East Kent Goldings hops.



Apparently, I brew with a lot of East Kent Goldings (EKG). Only recently did this come to my attention as I organized a flight of every homebrew I still had bottled for one of my friends, and reviewed my recipes. Stouts, EKG. Saisons, EKG. Porters, EKG. I had a few Fuggles thrown in there, but it seems EKG is my hop of choice. At the same time, I also recently had trouble finding EKG hops. Love2Brew of course sells “Kent Goldings” hops, and actually with the latest shipment from HopUnion, if you look on the label they are labeled “UK Kent Goldings”. Was this the same hop as Kent Goldings? I started poking around on all the major sites.

I recently came across a great resource that sheds more light on this question. The Museum of Kent Life, Cobtree has created a website in collaboration with local schools on the history of hops in Kent. The Wikipedia entry on hop varieties talks about Goldings hops, as I posted in my original article.



“Goldings This is a group of traditional and very popular English aroma hops grown prior to 1790. Widely cultivated also in the U.S.A. They are called East Kent Goldings if grown in East Kent, Kent Goldings if grown in mid-Kent, and Goldings if grown elsewhere in the U.K. There are many different named cultivars such as Amon's Early Bird, Cobbs, Bramling,Canterbury, Petham Rodmersham and in Worcestershire - Mathon. They tend to have a smooth, sweet flavor. Most types of Goldings will work in place of another (Whitbread Golding Variety for East Kent Goldings, e.g.). Note that Styrian Goldings are not of this family, they rather are identical to Fuggles.”

Kent is a county in South East England, and is known as the “Garden of England”. This map below from the Museum website lists the various areas that are part of Kent - Medway, Gravesham, Dartford, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Swale, Ashford, Canterbury, Thanet, Dover, and Shepway. I know for sure that I’ve heard Canterbury used in a hop name, perhaps an old recipe rather than a currently available strain. “East Kent” would probably refer to those areas along the coast, perhaps including Canterbury.





As you click through the map showing hop cultivation in terms of hectares in 1850, vs. 1950, vs. present day, you can clearly see the decline in production. Compare that to the fact that in Victorian times hop growing and picking was the biggest industry in the county! Of course, modern farming techniques tend to concentrate the land required to produce crops, but still the decline is striking. The site also has a nice timeline showing statistics about hop production from the 16th century to present. And if you’ve never considered the manual labor that used to go into hops, this page gives a pretty good summary, including some videos.



Strangely, the HopUnion LLC page does not acknowledge selling “UK Kent Goldings” hops, although I’m positive I’ve bought them at Love2Brew. Instead, they only list “UK East Kent Goldings”! You can check for yourself in their Hop Variety Book . As you can see below, the East Kent Goldings strain is listed as being developed from Canterbury Whitebine in 1790. So that’s where I saw Canterbury!



I hope I’ve shed some additional light on this subject, and pointed you towards some interesting resources. But the question remains - what’s going on with Kent Goldings hops? It seems to me like they are being grouped into a single “UK Kent Goldings” product. I also wonder if the Kent Goldings strain can be grown elsewhere, in England or beyond, and still sold under the name? Or is “Kent” a protected region/agricultural product, similar to areas of France and wine? Leave some comments below with your own questions or if you have any information to share!



