JUDGING THE VALUE OF HOPS. 289 



the active material in hops consisting not merely of this 

 body alone, but also of other constituents in the cones. 

 Moreover, estimating the percentage of soft and hard resin, 

 bitter principle and tannic acid at present affords but very 

 slight guidance in judging quality, the more so because of 

 the conflicting opinions prevalent as to the value of these 

 constituents in brewing operations. 



Even though the empiric method based on the factors 

 of colour, shape, aroma, etc., of the cones gives no ab- 

 solutely exact information, still, by constantly examining 

 and comparing samples, and by learning the experience 

 gathered by brewers in dealing with the different varieties 

 of hops, one gains sufficient skill to form an approximately 

 correct judgment of the quality of the samples submitted. 

 In fact, the eye of the connoisseur must be acquired, and 

 this of course necessitates practice, and plenty of it ! Evea 

 the best expert may be deceived ; not, perhaps, when it is a. 

 question of judging between a coarse variety and a very fine, 

 one, but when two similar kinds (say fine and very fine) have: 

 to be differentiated. Some merchants claim ability to tell 

 the district a sample comes from by inspection alone ; but,, 

 though they may succeed now and again, they certainly 

 cannot always hit the mark. Brewers very frequently 

 leave the appearance of the bops out of the question, and 

 buy according to origin alone. The reason for this is that 

 certain districts have gained a world-wide reputation for 

 their hops, and one often hears the opinion that good hops 

 cannot be obtained from any other. Certainly there is 

 a good deal in the idea, when it is considered that the 

 quality of hops is primarily nothing more than the product 

 of soil and climate, combined with more or less skill in 

 cultivation. Nevertheless, such prejudices should not be 

 carried to extremes by any buyer, or he will be certain 



to rue it if he gets into the hands of a dealer who knows 



19 



