Spalter Aroma Hops

Precious greenery

The Spalter hops growing area coincides for the most part with the "Spalter Hügelland". It extends from the Middle Franconian Basin to the Jura heights near Greding. In this area, family farms predominate. Climate and soil in the Spalter region are particularly suitable for aroma hop cultivation. The precipitation conditions with 650 mm of rain and the sunshine duration of up to 1700 hours a year play a special role. They give the Spalter hops a particularly noble aroma.

Hop growers in the hop field guiding the young hop plant

Hop field in the foreground young Spalter-Spalter Hop plants in the background Hop farm

Hands guiding young Spalt-Spalter hop plants on the wire

Hop strong

Hops – an incredible plant

There is no plant in the world that grows as fast and as high as the "real hops": 7 meters in 70 days. In optimal climatic conditions, that's 30 centimeters a day! The annual plant is one of the few climbing plants that spirals upwards to the right, i.e. clockwise.

True to the old farmer's saying: "Wet and cold is good for Spalt"

Love and care for the best aroma

The variety "Spalt - Spalter" with the best aroma properties is still in great demand today among brewers for the production of quality beers. Even today, about 90% of the hop area is planted with aroma and high aroma varieties. The climate and soil of the region around Spalt play a special role in this. Following the interest of the brewers, new varieties are also being tested.

Humulus lupulus

Beloved femininity:
For beer production, only the unfertilized umbels of the female hop plant are used.

Hoppy variety

Currently, the following varieties are grown in Spalt:
Noble aroma varieties: Spalter, Select, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Sapphire
Aroma varieties: Tradition, Pearl, Hersbrucker Spät, Opal, Emerald
Special aroma varieties: Cascade, Blanc
Bitter varieties: Hercules, Mercury, Magnum.

Tractor in the hop field harvesting the Spalt-Spalter aroma hops

Hop picker at work here the hops are picked by hand as before

Children and women at the hop harvest in Spalt around 1950

Season for helping hands

The hop harvest is a highly demanding activity. The umbels have to be carefully picked from the vines and they must not break or contain too much leaf and stem content. For a long time this was purely manual work and helping seasonal workers were guests in Spalt at the end of August for the hop harvest. With the purchase of modern harvesting machines, this historic era came to an end. Even I, who am writing these lines, can still remember my first pocket money as a harvest helper.

Spalt-Spalter

The variety is grown exclusively in Spalt. Sprouted in the Spalter Hügelland by natural selection, it is optimally adapted to its location. The native variety produces comparatively low, but reliable yields, as it is robust and resistant. As aroma hops, Spalt-Spalter gives the beer a strong and harmonious bitterness.

Spalt-Select

Die Aromasorte ist eine Züchtung des Hopfenforschungszentrums Hüll. Mit rund 140 Tonnen pro Ernte bringt sie im Anbaugebiet Spalt den höchsten Ertrag. Spalter-Select prägt den Biergeschmack durch eine angenehme Bittere.

Spalt was awarded the world's first hop seal in 1538

Franconia is home to the oldest hop-growing region in the world. Hop cultivation around Spalt was already mentioned in a document around the year 1341. At the beginning of the 19th century, our region was even the largest hop-growing region in Germany. The Spalter hops seal first mentioned in 1538 is intended to protect the quality, origin and grade of the Spalter hops. It was punishable to steal or export hop plants. The Spalter hops seal served as a model for other growing areas: they introduced their own seals.

more information can be found at:

www.spalter-hopfen.de

or come and visit us at the museum!

Hop stron

Signing & Sealing

If the Spalter Hop meets the quality requirements of the HVG (Hopfenverwertungsgenossenschaft (hop utilisation cooperative)), it receives its seal. The hop is then stored in the cold storage. In Germany, seal hop is certified "real hop" according to its cultivation or region of origin. According to the Hops Act (HopfG), which has been in force since 1996, hop produced in the areas connected to seal districts may only be referred to as seal hops.