Pride of Ringwood Hops

This wiki page came about because of a bet. At an Australia Day BBQ in Jan 2006, two Melbourne Brewers club members were debating the origins of the name "Pride of Ringwood", that classic Australian hop, and the first high alpha acid hop. The stakes were a bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve.

As it turns out, Pride of Ringwood was bred in Ringwood (the suburb of Melbourne) by Bill Nash, employed by CUB at the site which is now (2006) the site of Mitre 10 Mega and was for a number of decades, the home of Penguin Books.

If you have any information on the development of this hop, please edit the page directly.

Pride of Ringwood - Hop Facts

Pride of Ringwood was born to Pride of Kent and an unnamed Tasmanian (wild?) hop in Ringwood, Melbourne. It was released in 1958.
Analysis

Some notable references include:

"The Australian hop research station at Ringwood, near Melbourne, has recently been closed, at least partially because the variety Pride of Ringwood has been so successful. Released in 1958, it was developed at this station, which was largely supported by the brewing industry. This high-yielding, high-alpha variety is from a cross between an open-pollinated seedling of the English variety Pride of Kent and a Tasmanian male. Today it occupies nearly all of Australia's hop areas. Of the 1,055 ha of commercial Australian hop production, 43% are grown on the mainland in Victoria, primarily in the district of Myrrhea (320 ha) and in the Ovens Valley (148 ha) (25). The remaining 587 ha are grown in Tasmania, around Hobart near the southern tip of the island (362 ha), and near Scottsdale in the north (225 ha). Pride of Ringwood is also grown commercially in South Africa and in India, but the variety matures too late in the United States to be of commercial value there."

The American Society of Brewing Chemists journal, Vol 39 no 1 around 1980.

"This hop was developed by Mr. A.S.(Bill) Nash, hop Breeder at Ringwood, employed by CUB (Carlton & United Breweries) Melbourne, Australia."

"USDA Named Hop Variety descriptions", Source: Oregon State University High Alpha Acid Breeding Program.

From CUB (via Brett):

Response (Felicity) - 10/10/2006 04:46 PM Hi Brett,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us at Foster's. I hope that the following will answer your query.

Ringwood - History

Graham Hughes started with CUB in Sept 1972 & was based at the Hop Research station at Ringwood, as a plant breeder & agronomist who succeeded Bill Nash who retired in 1973.

The research station was at 483 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood. It was established in 1950 on land that was previously an apple orchard, owned by David Meyland.

As well as Ringwood there was a second research station at Eurobin, in North East Victoria (Eurobin is between Myrtleford & Bright).

The aim was twofold, namely to produce a new variety adapted to Victoria (as all varieties to 1950 were imported) & to demonstrate, via the second research station, improved cultural & drying techniques to improve the quality of hops that CUB were purchasing.

Bill Nash developed the two commercial varieties Ringwood Special & Pride of Ringwood. The name Pride of Ringwood is derived from it's grandmother, Pride of Kent.

Ringwood Special with approx 6% bittering, was released a couple of years prior to Pride of Ringwood & had only a few years of production (& is no longer grown). It was replaced by Pride of Ringwood which is still grown to a limited extent in both Victoria & Tasmania.

Graham Hughes continued the breeding program at Ringwood until 1979, when CUB purchased a half share in Rostrevor Hop Gardens in Eurobin.

The second research station mentioned earlier was located on a part of "Rostrevor". The joint venture was called Carlton Jones Pty Ltd & was 50:50 owned by Carlton & United Breweries Ltd and Henry Jones Ltd. & it's sole asset was Rostrevor Hop Gardens.

Graham Hughes moved to Rostrevor (Carlton Jones Pty Ltd ) as manager & the research station at Ringwood was closed after moving all the hop plants & the two glasshouses to "Rostrevor". Other varieties have since been developed at the Rostrevor research station.

The Research station at Ringwood, covering 1 hectare, had become valiable as real estate & was purchased by the adjoining Penguin Books. One aspect of concern at Ringwood was the illumination at night by the street lights on the Maroondah Highway. Hops are a plant with a life cycle dependant on the variation of daylength over the year. The intensity of light from the highway was reaching a level of intensity that could interfere with the natural cycle.

Kind Regards,

Felicity

And thanks to some kind input from:

Richard Carter: Ringwood Historical Society. His knowledge of this topic "without notice" was fantastic and it was Richard who told me it was located at what is now the Mitre 10 Mega site. I understand the RHS has at least one photo in the archives.
Brett Coopersmith: Has links to the Nash family and has aerial photos of the hop breeding program on display at the current site. My conversation with him has apparently piqued his interest in the Pride of Ringwood and hopefully there will be some further fascinating information coming out of this.

Blatantly useless Trivia

I attended Ringwood High School in the 70's.
My uncle worked at Penguin Books, who bought (part of?) the site from CUB.
My mother's parents lived in East Ringwood for many years.

paul sorenson