Hops and malting barley

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Beer country Switzerland

It is not unusual to hear beer fans say that they like their water with hops and barley. But what exactly are these two key ingredients in the beer production process?

Hops

Hops give beer its typical flavour and bitterness. Put another way, hops are to beer what spices are to food. The hop plant is a climbing vine and a member of the hemp family. Unfertilised female inflorescences (referred to as “umbels”) are required for the production of beer, as fertilisation by male pollen not only reduces the yield, but also shortens the time window for harvesting. This is because overripe fertilised umbels have an unpleasant taste and make processing in the brewery more difficult. As there are male and female hop plants, however, fertilisation is easy to avoid. You simply plant only female plants.

In addition to their role as a “beer spice”, hops have other uses: young hop shoots, for instance, have a similar flavour to asparagus and can be prepared in the same way, while hop extracts, often in combination with valerian, can be put to use as a mild sleep aid and sedative.
Up to four grams of hops are needed for a single litre of beer.

Up to four grams of hops are needed for one litre of beer

Malting barley

Malting barley forms the basis for the malting process. As the name suggests, the barley is converted into malt, a step that is essential in the brewing process. Malting barley varieties are specially bred to meet the needs of beer production. It should ideally contain little protein, for example, while also having good germination properties.

After harvesting, the malting barley grains are malted. The grains are allowed to germinate briefly (it is therefore important that as many grains as possible germinate quickly) before being dried again. During this process, enzymes are formed within the grain that are required for brewing beer. It is possible to produce malt from all types of grain and pseudocereals (e.g. amaranth and quinoa).

For a long time, Swiss malting barley had to be transported abroad for malting, with malt primarily being imported from outside the country. Today, however, Switzerland’s first large malt house can now be found in Aargau.

Fun facts about hops

Hop umbels can regulate humidity, which is why they used to be placed behind the books in libraries. What is more, their essential oils are believed to keep insects away. The umbels have to be replaced every few years.

Most hops are grown in the US, Germany and Ethiopia. Germany leads the way in Europe, far ahead of its closest rivals the Czech Republic and Poland.

How to produce beer

Grind (“chop”) the malt and mix it with water. The mixture is referred to as the “mash”.
Heat slowly: this breaks down the starch from the grain into malt sugar.
Separate the liquid and the malt residue – this by-product is called “spent grain” and can be used as animal feed or to bake bread.
Add hops to the liquid (so-called beer wort) and bring everything to the boil. This releases flavouring substances and bitter agents.
Cool the liquid to the temperature required for fermentation.
Add yeast. This transforms the malt sugar into alcohol, carbon dioxide and flavourings. The mixture ferments for around a week, producing a great deal of foam in the process (referred to as “krausen”).
At a low temperature, the beer continues to ferment slightly, matures and clarifies, with any solids that are still dissolved settling at the bottom.
Before bottling, the beer is filtered to ensure that it is clear. If this step is skipped, the beer is left “natural” and is slightly cloudy.

Hops and malt, may God preserve them!

In many countries, beer was the daily drink of most people during the Middle Ages. It contains calories and was therefore used to feed poorer sections of the population. As it was boiled during production, any pathogens previously contained in the water were killed off. Despite this, it seems there were a lot of problems. Sometimes the brew would prove to be poisonous, not least due to the addition of tree bark or plants such as deadly nightshade. During periods in which the price of ingredients rose, breweries would try to keep their earnings high by adding inferior substitutes. It was for this reason that many regions adopted so-called “purity laws”: beer should exclusively contain hops, malt and water.

The German saying “Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalts!”, which translates into English as “hops and malt, may God preserve them!”, is said to refer to the flavour of beer. It seems that it was difficult to produce good-tasting beer. While the role played by yeast in the fermentation process was not yet known, it is said that it could be observed how breweries housed next to bakeries produced flavourful beers. Yeast organisms evidently found their way into the brewing kettle through the air.

Swiss beer

In Switzerland, by contrast, beer played a relatively minor role for the population. The impetus for brewing is thought to have come from German waggoners, for example, who were pining for their favourite drink. Sour cider (fermented apple juice) was more common on this side of the border. While there were plenty of apples, grain was in rather short supply and had to be used to feed the population. Winegrowing also became widespread in Switzerland from the eleventh century onwards.

By the mid-19th century, however, beer also succeeded in gaining a foothold in Switzerland. There were a number of factors that came together here: people now understood the brewing process at a chemical level (especially the role of yeast) and were able to produce the beverage in large quantities. The expansion of the railway system made it easier to procure raw materials and, thanks to the development of refrigerators, it was now also possible to drink beer during the summer months. Glass bottles also appeared, meaning that people could take beer with them wherever they went.
In 1927, there were 64 breweries. The number fluctuated around this figure for a long time, before falling during the 1970 and 1980s and finally hitting a low of 32 in 1992. Since the turn of the millennium, a number of new breweries have popped up on an annual basis, meaning that by 2020 Switzerland was the proud home of 1,212 breweries. However, 95 percent of these operations are small businesses that produce less than 1,000 hectolitres (100,000 litres) each year.

In 2022, the cantons of Bern (210), Zurich (164), Aargau (112) and Vaud (109) had the most breweries (source: Swiss Brewery Association). Switzerland has by far the highest density of breweries in Europe, boasting 146 brewers per million inhabitants (in 2021). It is followed by the Czech Republic (57 breweries per million inhabitants) and the Netherlands (52 breweries per million inhabitants).

Beer consumption in Switzerland

Today, beer is by far and away the most consumed alcoholic beverage in Switzerland. On average, each person drinks 55 litres each year.

The consumption of non-alcoholic beer is also on the rise: having only accounted for 2.3 percent of the total market as recently as 2010, it now already has a market share of 5.7 percent.

When one considers how much beer the Swiss population drinks, it has to be said that we are lagging well behind when it comes to the production of raw materials. Around 20 hectares of hops and some 300 hectares of malting barley are grown here in Switzerland. This equates to 10 percent of the hops processed and 1 percent of the malting barley. At least we can say that the water (which accounts for the highest content by weight in the final beverage) and the yeast come exclusively from Switzerland.

(Source: Swiss Brewery Association)

Es Herrgöttli, e Stange, e Haube

While a “Stange” is likely known throughout German-speaking Switzerland as the name for a 300 ml glass of beer, other sizes and designations are used only regionally.

100 ml: Pfeff (Lucerne)

200 ml: Tulpe (Basel), Herrgöttli (Bern)

300 ml: Rugeli (Lucerne, served in a glass with a handle), Becher (Solothurn, Aarau, Fribourg), Stange (throughout German-speaking Switzerland)

Half litre: Humpen (Lucerne, served in a glass with a handle), ein Normales (Wallis), ein Grosses (Zurich), Chübu (Bern, Graubünden), e Haube (throughout German-speaking Switzerland)
Litre: Stifu (Bern, served in a boot-shaped glass)

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