COP26, Green Hop beers & seasonality
With COP26 starting in Glasgow a wide range of issues relating to climate impact and change are being discussed.
One is whether it’s a good idea to eat vegetables and fruit out of season in the UK, since where they are to be found (and they usually are) they are air freighted from elsewhere in the world. That’s hardly environmentally friendly, but its important not to be one-dimensional. Someone makes a profit out of doing that but also some people’s jobs and livelihoods depend on it.
Social media has carried pictures of supermarkets using pictures of asparagus to cover empty vegetable baskets. Supplies of vegetables grown in the UK can vary a lot due to the weather so shortages and conversely gluts are not unusual. However asparagus is not in season in the UK so if it is on the shelves its come by air often from Peru.
How many now appreciate the issue of what is or is not actually in season I’m not sure. However brewing is doing its bit by promoting green hop beers.
Hops are harvested in early Autumn. This was originally done by hand but has been automated since around 1960. These days its also possible to forage or grow locally enough hops to make a beer genuinely local.
Green Hop beers have been around for a while but the trend to brewing them is growing.
A couple of weeks back I tried two green hop beers on cask brewed by Beerblefish who have a tap room on the Blackhorse Lane beer mile in London E17. They were both decent.
This weekend the Hackney brewer Five Points have a green hop festival at the Pembury Tavern with cask and keg beers.
Drinking one is a practical commitment not just to the importance of seasonality but also to one of the aims of COP26
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