Hahaha well yes but only as hob has been used in beer for so long that it predates commercial scale brewing. As you can imagine records as sketchy that far back but we can say that Hildegarda de Bingen, from what is now modern day Germany, owns the crown of being oldest surviving documenter of the use of hops in beer recipes. The 12th century theologian, writer, botanist, and master brewer, among other things, was ultimately canonised. Seems fair. Incidentally Bingen, is also titled the first person to write a whole new language.

Bingen’s alphabet for the new language. Source: Hildegarde de Bingen - Wikipedia.

The history though of hops in beer goes back to 7000-1000 BC, and known to have been added as far back as Pharaonic Egypt around 600 BC. The present day area of Germany started hop agriculture in 300 AD with the first documented horticulture being in 736 AD in the Hallertau region. It wasn’t until the medieval times that hops in beer got popular. The first commercial breweries were the European monasteries and abbeys in the 7th century so unsurprisingly they lead the charge on hops for flavour. By the 14th and 15th centuries French and German monasteries and abbeys gradually converted from gruit flavouring to solely hops. Gruit was the name given to a large variety of herbs and spices used to flavour beer and cover up off flavours. Gruit included juniper, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, oak leaves, lime blossoms, cloves, rosemary, gentian, gaussia, chamomile, oxen gall, soot, bark, and mushroom. Mmm oxen gall, yum!

With the addition of hops to the church’s commercial beer came its antiseptic nature. Up until this point only high alcohol content stabilised and lengthened the shelf life of this commodity. Bearing in mind that beer barely rose above 3 ABV% during this time, and the common table beer was at 1%, ABV% was not a contributor to stability. The inclusion of hops, especially its alpha acids, prevented unwanted bacterial growth while simultaneously enhancing yeast growth and fermentation by eliminating yeast competitors. Hops made a significant impact on stability because beer at this time was not boiled before fermentation so lacked stability from sterilisation. The largest impact hops made on stability though comes not from its chemical components but rather from the medieval technology change of boiling beer with the hop additions. With this, commercial beer truly turned a corner and with its new found stability began to be transported near and far for sale. Don’t think for a lick of a second though that you could mosey down to cheap side and grab a packaged beer takeaway. Not until the industrial revolution (1760 – 1840) did commercial beer gain dominance. Up until that point the majority of beer production was still DIY.

Hop in Beer was invented by Craft