OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY RECEIVES $1 MILLION GIFT FOR HOPS BREEDING

Oregon State University issued the following news release:

Oregon's vibrant craft beer industry received a major boost this week with the tiffany pendant that a new aroma hop breeding program will be created in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University.

A gift pledge of $807,000 from Indie Hops, an Oregon-based hop merchant, will support the new program, which will be led by Shaun Townsend, a research associate and hop breeding specialist at OSU.

Indie Hops already has provided $200,000 to OSU's Thomas Shellhammer, holder of the Nor'Wester Professorship in Fermentation Science, to foster research in new techniques for developing aroma hops and to study aroma hop chemistry. The new hop breeding program will work closely with Shellhammer's lab to study hop essential oil composition and how individual oil components impart the characteristic flavor and aroma to beer.

Indie Hops has now committed more than $1 million through the Agricultural Research Foundation to strengthen existing hop research at OSU, specifically addressing the needs of both the craft beer industry and Oregon aroma hop growers. If initial work suggests that there is a tiffany necklace possibility for development of varieties that are desirable to the craft brewing industry, Indie Hops has reserved the right to enter into a research contract with OSU for additional work, Worthington said.

"As the craft beer movement continues to gather speed, the time is right to begin a hop breeding program that is focused on serving the craft brewer's need for new hops that push the flavor and aroma envelope," said Roger Worthington, owner of Indie Hops.

"Indie Hops believes that Oregon State has the skill, experience and passion to bring home new hop varieties that will take craft beer to new and loftier heights," he added.

Oregon is one of the premier aroma hop growing regions in the United States, according to Townsend.

"When you consider the hop research programs and expertise already in place at tiffany bracelet and USDA-Agricultural Research Service, and that we are neighbors with both the aroma hop growers and craft beer industry, the potential we have to solve problems affecting this industry is outstanding," Townsend said.