Our Head Brewer Andrew was back in Glasgow earlier this month for the 2026 edition of AromaFest – the British Hop Growers showcase of new hop varieties coming through their breeding program. Once again, this was hosted at Glasgow institution West Brewery, by the bank of the Clyde.
As mentioned in last year’s blog, hop breeding is a particularly difficult endeavour, and results can be quite unpredictable, so it takes a lot of work and a lot of extensive breeding to find promising candidates to trial. Last year saw quite a few varieties showcasing orange and passionfruit as their main characteristics (which we love to see in a pale ale), but this year had a bit more diversity on show. We still had a lot of orange and passionfruit, but also with notes of pine and grapefruit in some varieties, and berry and spice in others.
New to this year, we had a few varieties from the Czech and American breeding programs thrown into the mix, as well as the inclusion of one or two currently available new hops. Just to keep us on our toes. Our favourite hop of recent years – Harlequin went by undetected in the company of the other new varieties on show, such was the excitement around some of the new hops we had to sample. Speaking of the event, Head Brewer Andrew had this to say: “I’m really excited about some of the hop varieties that were on show this year. We’re seeing a few great prospects coming through that would make a brilliant pale ale or IPA, and it would be amazing to use even more local product where we can!”
Since last year’s AromaFest, we have managed to gain access to a few varieties that have progressed through the breeding program to the next stage, where they have been planted out for small scale brewing trials. Last year we released our Experimental Pale Ale #1, showcasing experimental hop CF386, which gave us lovely notes of orange, papaya, and tropical fruit. We expect to release a few more beers with a few more experimental hops this year.
We also have our Saddleback returning this summer, our seasonal American-style Pale Ale, made with 100% British Hops. Keep an eye out for this local legend in pubs across Cumbria in June and July!
