Hops Guarantee
Bitburger Siegelhopfen – Our Green Gold
The soul of a beer is the hop which, with its natural aroma and the bitter substances it contains, produces the characteristic slightly tart taste. Worldwide, there are only a few areas where the best hops can be grown successfully. One of these is Hallertau in Bavaria, another is Holsthum near Bitburg in the Südeifel National Park. The famous Bitburger Siegelhopfen come from these areas. Both of these certified hops are used in our Bitburger Premium Pils.
Hops – a Special Plant
Hops belong to the family of hemp plants and want one thing above all else: to reach high. It is an annual climbing plant which forms deep roots, grows up to eight metres high and winds around in an anti-clockwise direction. A special feature of the plant genus is its dioecious, i.e. female and male flowers are found on separate plants. Only the female plants are used for brewing beer, because only they form umbels which contain the characteristic bitter substances.
Our Hops Guarantee
Trust is good, control is better: For our Bitburger Premium Pils, we select only the best hops that meet our quality standards in every respect. This applies not only to our Bitburger Siegel hops, but also to Bitburger Siegelhopfen from the Hallertau region, which are first sampled by our employees on site and then analyzed in Bitburg with regard to their ingredients. To ensure one thing in every single beer: the incomparable typical crisp Bitburger taste.
EIGHT METERS HIGH
CAN BECOME A HOP PLANT.
Grown to the Highest Standards
A water content of about 80 percent requires the hops to be dried after harvesting before they can be bagged after four to five days of storage. However, it only becomes a genuine sealed hop when an official sealing master has inspected it and "sealed" the filled sacks. It is this seal that proves that each sealed sack contains only one thing: top quality for our Bitburger Premium Pils.
Hops – Fresh, Dried, as Pellets or Extract
Hops give the beer its characteristic aroma and typical bitter taste. The amount of hops which needs to be added varies according to the type of beer. As well as fresh hops (green hops) and dried hops, hop pellets and hop extract are nowadays also used in the brewing process. Pellets and extract have the great advantage that they can be matured without any reduction in quality. Furthermore, weight is reduced in the process of refining of the hops. This means a cut in transport and warehousing costs – which make sense from the point of view of sustainability.