Bavarian Hop Harvest Scholarship: Claire Winder
The connections I managed to make while visiting the Hop Research Centre was a real highlight for me! Learning about their breeding programme and seeing their lab space gave me a better idea of what direction I can hope to work towards in the future with my own lab. I got to build on my previous sensory experience as well, and have a wider understanding of where the industry is heading in Germany with a focus on how the growers are adapting with climate change.
The relationships I got to build with the other scholarship recipients was also such an insight to the industry around the world. I was fortunate to be on this trip not just with ladies from the US, but also Australia and Canada. We definitely already have some future plans to see one another. I cannot say enough how much this trip did for my confidence as well <3 I will always be grateful to the extraordinarily knowledgeable people I was able to meet on this trip and how it has opened my views on the brewing industry as a whole around the world!
This trip equipped me to move from just providing numbers/data to offering a deeper consultancy experience for my future customers including understanding how centuries of German tradition have
impacted modern quality to having the contacts I now may consult to provide better services here in Texas. I hope to educate further on possible hop varietals that are up and coming with higher alpha acid
contents and have now started relationships with direct contacts in Germany to foster that will help my customers in Texas further. There was a big interest among the hop growers and hop groups towards
talking to brewers in our areas about their new hop varietals and how we as women in all facets of the industry can be a driving force in changing the minds and some ideas of brewers that may have not
considered newer hop varietals and how they can make a better beer of save them some money as well as helping the agricultural side of hops!
I will be presenting to the University of Houston Beer Appreciation class of the Hilton College for their segment on hops this semester as well as potentially having this as a recurring guest lecture each year
to help educate new students entering the hospitality and brewing industries. The opportunity to continuously share the importance of quality control at all levels of the brewing industry including
specific ingredients such as hops is something I am the most excited about going forward.