Hop production in Brazil grows and competes with international quality

In third place in the world ranking among the countries that produce the most beer in the world, Brazil produces around 15,4 billion liters of beer annually, according to a survey carried out by the National Beer Industry Union (Sindcerv). However, until more or less six years ago, one of the main ingredients used in its manufacture, hops, responsible for the bitterness and aroma of the drink, had all its demand imported from countries such as the USA and Germany, which made the process more expensive and with reduced quality due to storage and transportation time. However, this is changing, as explained by Stéfano Gomes Kretzer, agronomist specializing in hops and hop culture consultant, at Lúpulo do Vale.

In Brazil, production jumped from 9 tons of hops in 2020 to 24 tons in 2021, according to data from the Brazilian Association of Hop Producers (Aprolúpulo), a growth of 160%. “The Brazilian beer market is increasingly demanding and demands quality inputs, as we are competing with an international market. And hops are fundamental to the country's brewing industry, directly influencing the final quality and competitiveness of the product, bringing increasingly more value and prestige to beer produced entirely with raw materials from Brazil”, says Kretzer.

Within this scenario of growth in production, he created Lúpulo do Vale, with the idea of ​​improving the quality of the drink produced nationally, providing advice and consultancy to hop producers and breweries. “We are just beginning to consolidate ourselves with national production, we still import around 3.200 tons of hops per year, so it is extremely important that every producer, every ton of what we produce has excellent quality to achieve greater market acceptance and have greater success in beer production and being able to depend less and less on the external market”, explains Kretzer.

The expert explains that planting hops involves several technical details, from the implantation and development of plants to the commercialization of hops, and there cannot be room for errors during cultivation, under the risk of low productivity and low quality, which hinders the marketing of the final product.

National production

The cultivation of hops on Brazilian soil increases every day, promoting gains for producers, generating greater income and jobs. The hops we have here are the same as we have abroad, but with the Brazilian characteristic. "It's called 'terroir', a term often used when we talk about wines, but which also fits into the world of beer. It expresses, in qualitative terms, the typicality and identity of the soil where, in this case, the hops are being grown ", explains Kretzer.

Compared to national quality, one of the differentiators of Lúpulo do Vale's product is its quality. "The hops are fresh, with quality processing, harvested at most a few months ago and not a few years ago as has been the national reality”, explains Duan Ceola, chemist, professor and coordinator at the Escola Superior de Cerveja e Malt. “The The reflection is direct both in the sensorial characteristics (aroma) and in the physical-chemical characteristics (bitterness). The aromatic part will bring characteristics of fruits such as yellow ones, for example: passion fruit, melon, papaya, tropical fruits. In the physical-chemical part, there is a lot of bitterness , good and pleasant. Tropicality is the key word for Lúpulo do Vale hops, with unmistakable aromas and physical-chemical characteristics”, adds Ceola.

Difficulties

The production of this important input for beer production is complicated. Therefore, Ceola reinforces the importance of having a specialist helping with this cultivation. “To speed up a project, a specialist has already gone through several 'troubles' and is certainly prepared to solve any and all problems that may arise, this may seem simple, but it has a direct impact on the cost, it makes the farmer spend less money on in relation to resolving subsequent problems”, comments Ceola.

Proving Brazilian quality

“Seven years ago we founded Besser Bier, today located in Trombudo Central, in Santa Catarina. And like most breweries, we also imported the hops to be used in our beer. Our partnership with Kretzer started through Instagram. My husband, who is a chemist, got in touch with him and went to see the plantation and the hops he was producing. From then on, instead of buying expensive imported hops, we got the same quality, with Comet from Lúpulo do Vale, we also noticed that our beer became very hoppy and aromatic, the beer was even better than the previous ones” , says Aline Eddinger, administrative manager at Besser Bier.