The Hop Flavorist Course offered by international hop services provider BarthHaas is a comprehensive qualification course for hop experts. The first group successfully completed the five-part training course in January 2022, five years after the concept was piloted in 2017.

“The coronavirus pandemic seemed to be holding us back, but in actual fact, switching to online schooling enabled us to reach and inspire participants from many different countries to take this course”, enthuses Dr. Christina Schönberger, director of the BarthHaas Hops Academy.

The central focus of the Hop Flavorist Course is hop sensory analysis; it is open to all those who are professionally concerned with beer – beer sommeliers and brewers, but also other brewery personnel who are interested, such as those in sensory analysis or quality control. The participants are immersed deeply into the world of hops. With the aid of smelling, beer, and hop samples, the participants are trained by the Hops Academy’s certified experts to evaluate and distinguish between hop varieties, and they learn the terminology surrounding the tasting of this unique flavor ingredient.

In the theoretical part, the participants are given extensive insights into topics such as hop analysis, hop addition in the brewing process, hop breeding, and the effects of climate and terroir on hop aroma. The fifth and final part concludes with a theoretical and practical examination. “The course level is very high. Those taking part and ideally passing the final examination for Hop Flavorist Master can justifiably describe themselves as certified experts in hop sensory analysis”, points out Dr. Schönberger.