222 THE HOP. 



"American," "Pacific Coast," "California," "Russian 

 River," "Sonoma," or a Healdsburg hop, each suc- 

 cessive title serving to narrow down the location where 

 the hop is produced. Likewise in the London market 

 the terms "English," "Kent," "Weald of Kent," and 

 even the name of the particular plantation are used. In 

 Germany such classification is carried to an almost ab- 

 surd subdivision. 



The placing of a given hop in its grade is large- 

 ly a matter of the likes and dislikes of the expert, and 

 the experts themselves rarely agree among themselves 

 as to the proper grading of a line of hop samples. With 

 the brewers the difference of opinion as to the grades 

 is even greater than it is with the hop dealers or ex- 

 perts. Again, in naming a grade for a hop, even an 

 expert is often in doubt whether to place it in one grade 

 or in another; thus, if a sample looks a little too good 

 for a given grade and not quite good enough for the 

 grade next higher, an intermediate grade is often used, 

 which is expressed by connecting these two grades with 

 the word "to." Thus: A hop that one considers bet- 

 ter than a prime and not quite equal to choice, would 

 be expressed as "prime to choice," though these split 

 grades are not so frequently employed as the general 

 terms, fancy, choice, prime, medium, common. Split 

 grades or gradations or peculiarities of quality are 

 sometimes spoken of as "strictly fancy," "shipping 

 grade," "good brewing quality," "trash," and perhaps 

 a hundred other minor terms are sometimes used, tak- 

 ing the hop world as a whole, but fancy, choice, prime, 

 medium, common, are the accepted standards. 



There are some features of a hop that are liked 

 or disliked by everyone, though in many other partic- 

 ulars what one purchaser prefers, another condemns. 

 Brightness in characteristic color, strong, healthy fla- 

 vor, freedom from disease or vermin damage, proper 

 maturity, clean picking, flakiness, softness in texture. 



