Fuggles Hops

Strictly speaking, the Fuggles strain of hop should really be known as the Fuggle. It is certainly known as the Fuggle by the British Hop Association. If you follow this link you will find a description of the Fuggle hop. At this site there is a photo of some Fuggles hops and some information on the origins. However, recent research casts doubt on their version of the origins. Take a look here to see an interesting article on the subject which includes references to this document written by Kim Cook for the Brewery History Society.

However, it does seem to be more commonly known as Fuggles. Certainly, if you search the web for Fuggles, you will find a large number of home brew beer recipes that refer to Fuggles hops as well as a number of suppliers of Fuggles hops. I can recall in the early days of home brewing finding a box of Fuggles in Boots the Chemists.

More recently but several years ago now, Whitbreads used Fuggles hops in their Fuggles Imperial IPA which was brewed at their Castle Eden brewery. It was described as “strong, hoppy and thirst quenching, full of hoppy aromas but soft and dry on the finish”. I saw it in my local Tesco supermarket a few years ago but I believe that Whitbreads have since sold their brewery interests and the Castle Eden Brewery has closed. This was the label:-

There are still some all Fuggles ales around. One I encountered not so long on a ferry to the Isle of Wight was Fuggle-De-Dum which is brewed near Ryde on the island by Goddards Brewery. This is how it looked then:-

It’s still available now, albeit with a slightly different label – here.