+44 (0)1905 830734
The Hopstore, Monksfield Lane, Newland, Worcester, WR13 5BB
+44 (0)1905 830734
23.04.2021
The Sixth BRR segment focuses on our supplier Iain Kenny at Murphy & Son. Iain talks about the latest happenings at Murphy’s and what they’ve been up to in the lab.
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https://www.charlesfaram.co.uk/video-and-podcast-2021-series/
https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/
Also available on:
Our CANADIAN team hosted a roundtable discussion with Canadian brewers of the results of their experimentation with Harlequin™ hops.
Featuring:
26.03.2021
This is the video adaptation of our newsletter feature which delves into the life of a different brewer each month. In this episode, Simon Yates tells us about his favourite hops, beers, pubs, music and anecdotes.
Also available on:
Charles Faram wins Best Supplier Associate of the year and Best COVID Supplier Initiative
The Charles Faram team were excited to win two awards at the Society of Independent Brewers Business Awards ceremony streamed live on YouTube last night.
As knowing finalists, the team sat in the Zoom green room with other finalists in our own categories and brewer business specific categories.
Head of Sales, Jamie MacLellan had submitted a diary style entry for the COVID initiative category, detailing a month-by-month record of the COVID situation and the procedures that Charles Faram implemented in reaction to or anticipation of unfolding events.
This was judged by the SIBA Business Awards panel and deemed worthy of winning first prize.
The team was thrilled and modestly cheering off camera. It was a confirmation stamp that we had managed our goal of helping brewers at every opportunity. We had done it right.
We sat with baited breath as we watched the other announcements with so many deserving finalists and winners. The initiatives mentioned were a ray of sunshine after months of, well, we all know how it’s been.
Then it came to the final awards. Best Supplier Associate and Best Brewery Business of the Year. The build up description could’ve related to any of the superb finalists and friends in this category. And then there was a tangible gush of emotion as we won. Again, we were doing right, only this is the big one! This one works on written nominations and votes by Independent Brewers, our customers.
We have picked up this award twice in the past and as recently as 2019. This was amazing.
Charlie Gorham, Marketing Manager was picked on by the SIBA team to come forward to the live stream and give a speech. Emotion clearly visible, more so than before, because this year has seen so many bad times. The good is just even more amazing.
Paul Corbett, Managing Director thanked the SIBA team for the award and their efforts throughout the past year and bringing us together with the SIBA BeerX event. He also then went on to say, „Every one of us at Charles Faram is delighted to win these two awards. It is a huge boost for the team who have been immense during the last 12 months and for me personally as winning awards like this tell me we are doing the right things for our customers. We are very grateful to the judges for selecting our COVid support programme and we are humbled by the support from our customers for the Supplier of the year award. Thank-you to everyone who took the time and effort to write in support of our case. There were some great entries from other companies so we were over the moon to hear the results! Thank-you to everyone for your support.“.
Beth Eaton Sales Manager, said “This is so nice to receive after what has been such a tough year for us all. Keep going brewers, we are with you all the way.”.
You can view Charlie’s emotional acceptance speech on the YouTube stream at
https://youtu.be/h4PS0fKpoW4?t=901 starting at 15:01, but this link should take you straight there.
Our congratulations go out to the other winners and especially, to Signature Brew for Best Brewery Business of the Year. A very, very deserving award.
The SIBA Business Awards seek to congratulate excellence in the brewing industry across a variety of categories, from pump clip, can and bottle design, to efforts taken by brewers to make their business more eco-friendly or to support their local community.
The awards are unique in that they are judged by those from within the industry rather than publications or other awards bodies looking in.
For more on the SIBA Business Awards go to https://www.siba.co.uk/business-awards/
Starting off our 2021 series of Podcasts and videos on all sorts of topics from the team members, to recipes, hop talk, chats with the growers, chats with brewers and technical advice. This first episode provides an interesting insight into how Faram’s has changed over the 30 years with some funny stories that allow you to see inside our MD’s mind.
Also available on:
Check the short video from our Jon . He talks about Most (Moss-t) while starting off his weekend of homebrewing #MostHops #HomeBrewing #HopTalk
We have compiled a list of your most asked questions regarding shipments into Europe following the end of the transition period. We will be looking to update this page as more information becomes available to us. However, if you do have any questions that are not covered here, do not hesitate to contact any member of the international team who will be more than happy to help.
Are there any restrictions on products that can now be ordered?
Having worked closely with our logistic contacts we are now seeing the majority of the goods moving with minimal disruption. There may be delays with other goods, but please contact us if you have any concerns before placing an order.
How long will it take to receive my order?
At the moment it is difficult for us to provide our customers with an exact delivery date for each order. There are delays on the borders going into Europe, and consignment information is not currently being updated by the couriers until they have cleared customs. There are a number of new documents that are required depending on what products we are shipping. The process for getting this documentation has improved and we are seeing a faster turn around at getting the certificates returned to us.
What new documents are being included with my order?
We will be applying for Certificates of Attestation for each variety of hop on each order. Orders containing Organic products will also need a Certificate of Inspection. The authorities handling the attestations are now getting these sent out to us in a reasonable time, however as this is a new process, we are still expecting some delays. These documents are currently provided as a free issue and will not be charged on your invoice. Phytosanitary certificates should not be required on these orders but may vary by country. We can supply a signed document that confirms this if it is required.
Are there any additional custom fees or duties that need to be paid?
There are no additional fees or duties on the English varieties. Unfortunately, at the moment there is a 5.8% tariff on the European, USA and New Zealand varieties. We are currently looking at reducing the price on the invoice, where possible for these varieties. This should ensure that you are not paying more overall for your order. Additional import costs and charges will need to be covered by our customers as these vary depending on the destination country and are unfortunately outside of our control. It is advised that our customers request an itemised breakdown of any import invoices, this way we can advise if any goods have had duty incorrectly applied.
What VAT will I need to pay?
VAT will not be charged on our invoice but will need to be paid by our customers at the point of the goods arriving at the border. This should still continue to be claimed back in the usual way for your country.
What do I need to do get my Organic goods cleared at the borders?
Organic hops need to have a clear traceability from Farm to the finished product made by our customers. To satisfy the strict criteria that needs to be met to be able to supply Organic hops to our customers, we are now required to apply for a Certificate of Inspection for each Organic order. This has to be completed through the Traces NT website. To issue this, our customer needs to be registered as an importer of Organic goods on the Traces website (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tracesnt/login). Without this certificate any goods arriving at the border, and being released by someone who is not a registered Organic importer, may not meet the traceability requirements. This would likely cause issues for any future Organic audits that you may have. We are recommending that our customers make themselves aware of the new processes involved in importing goods from a third country. Please ask contact us if you would like further information on this.
Is my contract still valid and can I contract for next year?
All contracts remain valid. As per the information above we will be working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure that we can get your orders shipped out as quickly as possible. It would be worth getting any orders to us in plenty of time to allow for the additional paperwork requirements to be completed and to minimise the impact on your brewing operations. We would still advise looking at your contract requirements for the 2021 New Zealand Harvest and 2021 Northern Hemisphere harvests.
Will I pay more for delivery?
We have worked hard with our couriers to offer the best possible pricing for deliveries. We have managed to work out a new pricing structure dependant on the weight of the consignment that remains to be very competitive, please do not hesitate to contact us for this pricing.
Written by Will Rogers, Group Technical Director
Hop development takes many years, hard graft, and a brilliant understanding of how to encourage the very best from these amazing plants. Even with all of these factors, things do not always go to plan.
To tell the story of Minstrel® we need to start with Sovereign. This is a variety that came from Peter Darby at Wye hops. It is a hedgerow variety, from a cross made in 1995. In its heritage is WGV but also Pioneer. Preceded by First Gold, Sovereign was heralded for its disease resistance and impressive yield, showing what could be achieved from a hedgerow hop. .
In 2006, before we had started our Hop Development Programme, Peter Glendinning, a Research Agronomist, was advising the National Hop Association (now the BHA) regarding crop protection. Peter could see that we in the UK, with our maritime climate, and full complement of pests and diseases needed new hop varieties to compete. Peter was walking the yards of Sovereign regularly and was impressed by the hardiness of the hop, and its potential for a good crop.
In the UK we grow seeded hops, occasionally one of these seeds will drop and start to grow, creating a new variety. It is not uncommon for growers to find a rogue plant, which has most likely come from one of these seeds, and it is here that Peter found Minstrel®.
Sovereign
In Minstrel®, Peter found a variety with good yield potential and tolerance to downy mildew. It displayed many of the characteristics which make its (presumed) parent a grower’s favourite, but with a fruitier aroma of spiced berries, orange and herbal undertones.
Peter collected this plant, and others like it, and these became the constituents of our original programme as Bishop, Baron, Crusader and Landlady.
Having identified some varieties with potential it is important to test for disease resistance. In 2010 we sent some small plants to the Institute of Hop Research and Brewing in Slovenia, where in the forest (well away from their own hop growing area) Minstrel® plants were deliberately inoculated with Verticillium wilt. The tested plants were given a score out of a hundred. If 100 plants were inoculated, how many died? The test is also performed on some benchmark varieties, in this case Fuggle and Target. Fuggle scored 99/100, Target 39/100, and Minstrel® a very respectable 30/100, giving it the classification of resistant to Verticillium Wilt. This was fantastic news and meant we could move to the next stage of development.
Propagating
There followed farm trials, starting in our nursery yards in 2010 and progressing onto two other farms in 2013, helping us learn more about how the plant behaves, how the cone picks when harvested by machine and the disease resistance when in a commercial setting.
For a couple of years, no significant problems were observed, yield was ahead of expectation and commercially brewers were telling us that whilst this was never going to be a hop to challenge the dominance of US hops in the craft sector, it brewed well, with a satisfying complexity albeit in line with more traditional varieties. Peter had observed that the plant had a relatively weak rootstock, meaning the rhizome is fairly small, even when mature, and the plant as it emerges in spring is a little slow with thin wires (shoots) that are few in number.
In 2016 we started to see some confusing symptoms in some single plants, the symptoms were those of Verticillium wilt but knowing what we did about Minstrel®’s wilt score, we felt sure that it couldn’t be that….. or could it? We sent samples of plants for testing, but the results were inconclusive. The following year there were clusters around the originally suspect plants, more plants showing symptoms. If this was Verticillium wilt, how were we to go about controlling it?
We now think that what was causing these symptoms is another type of wilt, Fusarium Wilt, a different fungus, caused by Fusarium Oxysporum. It kills the plant by blocking the Xylem, the water carrying vessel that runs the length of the plant, causing the plant to die from lack of water. Fusarium is common everywhere and most types are completely harmless and are part of a healthy soil microbiome.
Verticillium wilt
In hop yards with a tall trellis, when a plant shows symptoms of Verticillium wilt, we will isolate that plant and kill the root to prevent spreading the disease. We then bag all the bine and leaves and take those away to be incinerated. Verticillium spores can be carried by any of this material which is why it can spread so rapidly in effected yards. In low trellis (hedgerow) hop yards, we grow the hop bines up a plastic net which remains for many years, removing infectious material, without spreading disease is almost impossible.
Hop yards and plastic netting
We know that heavy soils (full of clay) and climatic conditions, as well as the availability of nitrogen in the soil, all contribute to the speed with which this disease can spread. Our records illustrate this nicely:
In our 200-plant plot:
2014 0 cases
2015 6 cases
2016 9 cases
2017 17 cases
2018 17 cases
2019 49 cases
2020 Plot removed
Disease resistance is a cornerstone of our breeding programme and faced with this information, it was decided that Minstrel® could no longer be grown, and the plots and farm trials were removed in the early part of 2020.
Every year our hop development programme takes another leap, building bigger flavours and stronger plants to support even better beers. We’ll have more information to share about our latest experimental varieties in the new year.
Earlier this year I sent a light-hearted request to the Charles Faram team, “please tell me which hop or hops you think you are and why”.
I had been tasked with writing an article and I think now might be a good time to share it.
I wonder whether you can work out who said what? (No prizes, just for fun).
Let’s start with firecracker baby born on the 4th July who desires independence.
Pleasant floral tones with some sour and salty sarcastic undertones. Resinous in my communications. The hop chosen is Centennial grown in the USA for its lemon, floral and resinous character.
Who might this all-American gal be?
So, Comet.
No not that one, although he is the techy computer guy in the office.
This hop has proven to be a good substitute for Citra® for some beers with its grapefruit and mango character.
The person who likened themselves to Comet must think they are like a celestial object consisting of a nucleus of ice and dust.
Based on this, I’m hoping for his sake you don’t guess who it is. Imagine if other people agreed? He also said that like Comet he was bred a long time ago and works well with others!
Any idea who?
UK grown Boadicea is the choice of my next teammate.
Nil points for guessing who this is but she says she chose this variety because she is a passionate, strong, independent woman who thrives on having the best army around her.
Think creative, think floral notes and very friendly with a bit of a spicy kick.
Even though this member of the team confesses to not knowing much about hops (it’s not compulsory, it does depend on the job you do!) she says that this UK Charles Faram variety appealed to her because the description sounds lovely like something she would wear as a perfume.
The fruity mango and passion fruit sounds more like a delicious dessert to me but I can see what she means about the floral character.
It must be Olicana® a more leafy, taller and more vigorous plant than its sister Jester®.
But who would wear it?
And now for Pioneer, a great all-rounder with a pleasant citrus aroma (well, depending on which shower gel he’s used, it could be cedar).
This modest member of the team started doing things differently when he joined the company 30 years ago (mmm that narrows it down a bit).
He introduced new varieties and has continued to do so to mean that Charles Faram & Co now offers something like 150 hop varieties from around the world. Several of these were introduced as part of the Charles Faram Hop Development Programme, another one of his pioneering ideas.
I would take bets that you will all get this one wrong.
One of the members of the Charles Faram team says they are Barbe Rouge a hop that is grown in France.
Likened to this Red Beard literal translation hop due to the occasional red hair in their beard.
This is one of my favourite hops to rub with its strawberry, redcurrant and floral character and one I used in a beer recipe for a collaboration in 2019. It sold out before I could try it.
C’est la vie!
At the risk of getting you all singing along to The Clash’s Rock the Casbah our next hop is Kazbek grown in Czech Republic.
Is it just me that sings that song every time I say Kazbek?
Sharp as a lemon this one (well you have to be in finance) with a little bit of spice too. Quite a combination.
This widely used hop ideal for use in less malty flavoured, golden coloured beers was chosen for its low bitterness which presumably means they think they are not bitter, well not much anyway.
They think its home country of Slovenia is a brilliant place for food and drink, a bit like their house apparently. Sounds like they should be on Come Dine With Me doesn’t it?
Have you worked out which hop it is? We are talking about Celeia, a Styrian Golding variety with very low Alpha and strong aromas of lemon and lime.
I guess it’s my turn. After some considerable thought I have decided that I would be a combination of several varieties.
Challenger purely based on the name because I like asking questions.
Jester® because I like a joke and have some beautiful sisters although none of them are called Olicana®.
I dream of being a Styrian Eagle but I’m more like a Styrian Wolf.
You can find out more about these hops by clicking on the Charles Faram website page
https://www.charlesfaram.co.uk/hop-variety-knowledge/
Why not ask your team to work out which hop variety they would be?
You could use the Charles Faram brochure for inspiration and create some new recipes too.
Have fun!
YouTube video 23.04.2021 The Sixth BRR segment focuses on our supplier Iain Kenny at Murphy & Son. Iain talks about the latest happenings at Murphy’s
Our CANADIAN team hosted a roundtable discussion with Canadian brewers of the results of their experimentation with Harlequin™ hops. Featuring: James Turco (Head brewer,
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