A recent study, published in Nature Communications, has highlighted the damage that climate change is causing and its effects on hops, a basic ingredient in beer production. According to researchers, drought and temperatures are negatively affecting crops of this plant: they advance their maturation, reduce production and the concentration of alpha content – the acid that gives beer its bitter taste – by 0.6 % since 1994. Hops are a plant that grows at a certain height and that requires, for its correct development, certain conditions of temperature and humidity.
Damm has confirmed to La Vanguardia that they are being affected by this reality. “It is true that this last year the harvest has gone very badly because hop production has dropped a lot,” explains Fede Segarra, the company's communications director. Of course, this context, he assures, is not affecting the quality of the product.
How do they get it? “We are aware of the bitterness standards of the different styles of beer we produce, and we measure them at all times. To maintain quality, what we are doing is adding more flower, which comes to us already pressed, and sometimes using other varieties,” Segarra emphasizes.
They are also developing other varieties that are more resistant to the effects of climate change and looking for other areas in Spain where they can plant hops, although the results may take a few years to arrive. Segarra explains that, in their case, most of the hops they use in the production of their beers are obtained from Prades and, to a lesser extent, from León. “It is a local hop. You can buy it in northern Europe, the United States… there are alternatives.” Furthermore, he asserts that they have a stock that covers more than ten months.
He says that the other essential ingredient for producing beer is malt and that, fortunately, it is not being so affected by the ravages of climate change.
He also explains that a brewmaster from the company reminded him that they had had bad hop crops before. In 2015, for example. “It is something cyclical, although it is true that now it seems something more marked,” she concludes.
