Northdown

Northdown is a unique hop strain with flavour notes including spicy, pine, floral, fresh and berry. The berry notes specifically make it a great hop for use when brewing milds, old ales and barley wines, due to their requirement for fruity depths of flavour.

Northdown was developed at England’s Wye College in early 1970’s and was bred initially for its resistance to Downy Mildew, which had caused concern with growers. Northdown is the offspring of Northern Brewer and Challenger and an aunt to Target and has a large and bold cone structure.

Northdown is a dual-purpose hop which is particularly good in the early to mid-stages of the boil and has good alpha and aroma properties. Northdown’s high oil levels give it a distinctive aroma and it is considered slightly higher impacting in flavour than its parent strain, Challenger.

It and is very popular used on its own in a brew or alongside an aroma variety and can sometimes be substituted with Northern Brewer. It has a high flavour intensity of 7 out of 10 and is also sometimes used successfully for bittering or late hopping.

Northdown is a high yielding variety that is grown primarily in Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the UK, due to the ideal hop growing conditions. It has good resistance to Downy Mildew but is susceptible to Powdery Mildew and Verticillium Wilt but it fares well in storage.

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