Pride Of Ringwood Hops: The Variety With Classic Australian Character

History of Pride of Ringwood Hops

Pride of Ringwood was developed by Albert Steven Nash as part of a Carlton & United Breweries hop breeding program at the Ringwood Hop Research Station located in Ringwood, Victoria. The program started in the early 1950s with the idea of finding hops better suited to the Australian climate. To this end, Nash, in 1953, planted many different female hops interspersed with male Tasmanian wild hops for pollination.

Pride of Ringwood’s pedigree is a female Pride of Kent hop and one of the unnamed wild Tasmanians. So, the hop, logically enough, was named for its mother and for where it was bred.

Interestingly, it seems the seeds of the mother Pride of Kent plants may have made the trip from their native land of Britain as stowaways in Nash’s pocket; this according to an interview between Margot Nash (Nash’s daughter), and Robert Saines, who managed a hop farm and worked with Nash for 26 years — referenced in Margot Nash’s piece “The First House and The Hop Farm”.

At the time of its release in 1965 it was the highest alpha acid hop in the world, clocking in at 8 to 10.5%. Today, these numbers are pretty average, but at the time its alpha acid load made Pride of Ringwood a highly sought after hop.

It was also highly disease resistant. At one point Rupert Saines infected a small plot of ground on Rostrevor hop farm with root rot before planting several different hop cuttings including Pride of Ringwood. He would later find that only Pride of Ringwood survived the infected ground.

It quickly became the most popular hop in Australia and, in its heyday, accounted for 90% of the hop acreage in the country. It was also grown for a short time in Kashmir, India. In recent years the acreage for Pride of Ringwood has dropped significantly.

In 2016, acreage was around 10% (PDF) of the total dedicated to hops in Australia. This is largely due to newer high alpha hops, like Galaxy and Super Pride, overshadowing Pride of Ringwood.

Ironically, Super Pride is a daughter to Pride of Ringwood.

Pride of Ringwood Hop Profile & Brewing Tips

If you are planning on growing hops in your backyard, we would make a few recommendations to help you in your endeavors. Before you choose the variety you want to grow, it is a good idea to talk to other local growers or possibly someone at your local homebrew supply store. They may be able to point you toward other varieties that may grow well in your area.

Pride of Ringwood is not under any sort of patent, so rhizomes are available through many garden and homebrew shops at the beginning of the growing season. However, if you are in the U.S., it is important to note that this hop variety may mature too late in the growing season for your area.

Also, part of the reason this hop variety is so successful in Australia is because the country does not have some of the hop diseases and pests found in other parts of the world. You should expect to have to deal with these diseases and pests if growing this hop outside of its home country.

General Characteristics:

• Growth Rate — Moderate to High.
• Yield — Good when grown in Australia.
• Cones — Medium to large and compact.
• Maturity — Mid to late season.
• Susceptible to — Downy Mildew; Powdery Mildew; and aphids (none of these are present in Australia)
• Resistant to — Veticillium Wilt; Root Rot
• Ease of Harvest — Excellent.
• Storage — Poor to Fair; retains 45 to 60 alpha acid content after 6 months storage at 68°F.

Sensory Description:

Pronounced but not unpleasant. Pride of Ringwood delivers a strong resin character with possible woody tones of cedar or oak with a pitch toward earthy and herbal. It may also have fruity, citrus, and floral whispers.

Availability:

Pride of Ringwood hops are not hard to find. They are available at many homebrew stores in both whole hop and pellet form. If you cannot find them at your local shop they may be able to order them for you. You can also easily find them online.

Use:

Pride of Ringwood is most often associated with bittering because of its relatively high alpha-acid content, but it has been used with a lighter touch, in later additions, to dress up aroma and flavor.

Early additions will yield a strong clean bitterness that creates a nice background for the use of other aroma varieties in the later additions.

Used in the later additions it can give a nice woody character and light citrus/floral whisper that can lend an added freshness to a lager or, at a slightly higher dose, give darker and stronger beers a rounded herbal/earthy quality. It is especially suited to Australian lagers or Australian Sparkling Ale.

There are a few references to good results when this hop is used in dry hopping.

Can Substitute With/For These Hops:

• Galena
• Cluster
• Northern Brewer
• Pacific Gem
• East Kent Goldings
• Centennial

Common Beer Styles Using Pride of Ringwood Hops:

• Australian Sparkling Ale
• Lagers
• Fruit Lambic
• Pale Ales & IPAs
• Strong Ales
• Amber Ales
• Golden Ales

Commercial Examples:

All but one of the examples are from Australian breweries, and the bigger, better known Australian beers that get distributed over here in the U.S. and also use Pride of Ringwood — such as Foster’s — do little to highlight the hop. There are a few U.S. breweries that have used Pride of Ringwood in the past — DuClaw Brewing comes to mind — so, it is worth keeping an eye out for limited release beers.

Of course, if you happen to take a trip across the pond to Australia, be sure to try as many examples as you can get your hands on…. For science, of course.

Finding a few of these examples will help you get a better understanding of the aromas and flavors Pride of Ringwood can impart and how you can best make use of it in your own brewing ventures and beer recipes.

Uses Only Pride of Ringwood:

• Laughing Water from Scarlet Lane Brewing Company
• Foster’s Lager from Fosters Group Limited
• Vitoria Bitter from Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)
• Cascade Pale Ale from Cascade Brewing Company
• Raging Bull from Bootleg Brewery
• Nail Ale from Nail Brewing

Combines Pride of Ringwood With Other Hop Varieties:

• Mad Emu Pale Ale from Southern Cross Brewing Company — Also uses Amarillo, Motueka, and Cascade
• Mild Ale from Cooper’s Brewing Company — Also uses Saaz
• Anytime IPA from Temple Brewing — Also uses Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Crystal, Dr. Rudi, and Mosaic
• Tasmanian Devil from Buffalo Bill’s Brewing Company — Also uses Cascade