Recently studies based on limited sample sizes and from minor hop growing regions have speculated that the elemental profile of hops is related to growing location and can possibly be used to authenticate the origin of a hop and that these changes might be related to beer quality. To explore this further, 205 hop samples comprised of 19 varieties were procured from the major hop growing regions (i.e. the U.S. and Germany). These hops were digested with microwave digestion and analyzed for 25 elements using ICP-MS. Hops from most of the U.S. regions (mainly WA) had vastly different elemental profiles than hops from Germany. German hops had significantly lower concentrations for most of the elements except for Cu and K. Interestingly, high alpha varieties had significantly different elemental profiles than varieties bred for aroma purposes. Dry-hopping trials were then performed in an ale and a lager with the hops that had significantly different elemental profiles. Although heavy metals were extracted from hops into beer, at the 5 g/L dry-hopping load used in this study, beer concentrations of these elements remained below regulated water quality standards set by Germany, the U.S., and Canada. Based on electron paramagnetic resonance, dry-hopping had an antioxidant impact on beer regardless of the original elemental profile of the hops which was correlated to hop polyphenol and α/ β - acid concentrations. Overall these results highlight that many factors including location have the potential to influence the elemental profile of hops and that changes in the elemental profiles of hops can be related to beer quality.

最近基于有限样本量和来自小酒花种植区域的研究推测，酒花的元素分布与生长地点有关，并且可能用于验证酒花的来源，并且这些变化可能与啤酒质量有关。为了进一步探索这一点，我们从主要的酒花种植区（即美国和德国）采购了 19 个品种的 205 个酒花样品。用微波消解这些啤酒花并使用 ICP-MS 分析 25 种元素。来自美国大部分地区（主要是西澳）的啤酒花的元素特征与来自德国的啤酒花大不相同。除铜和钾外，德国啤酒花的大多数元素浓度都显着降低。有趣的是，高 alpha 品种的元素分布与为香气目的培育的品种有显着差异。然后在麦芽酒和拉格啤酒中进行干啤酒花试验，其中啤酒花的元素特征明显不同。尽管重金属从啤酒花中提取到啤酒中，但在本研究中使用的 5 g/L 干啤酒花负荷下，这些元素的啤酒浓度仍低于德国、美国和加拿大设定的规定水质标准。基于电子顺磁共振，干啤酒花对啤酒具有抗氧化作用，而与啤酒花的原始元素分布无关，这些元素与酒花多酚和α/β-酸浓度相关。总体而言，这些结果突出表明，包括位置在内的许多因素都有可能影响啤酒花的元素特征，并且啤酒花元素特征的变化可能与啤酒质量有关。