First Gold (Prima Dona)
- Variety:
- First Gold (Prima Dona)
- Assignment:
- Aroma
- Genetic origin:
- US
- Direct substitutes:
- Brewer's Gold , Fuggle, Northern Brewer
- Creative substitutes:
- Tradition, Perle, Saaz
Brief history
First Gold was developed at Horticulture Research International at Wye College and released in 1996. It was the first commercially released English dwarf, or hedgerow, hop variety.
General description
A distinctive English profile with orange and marmalade notes, complemented by spice and a light floral character.
Brewing use
Excellent for late hopping and aroma additions in bitters, pale ales, golden ales and other styles where a bright but traditional English character is desired.
Grow-on-Demand Programme
Our Grow-on-Demand Programme gives breweries access to American and New Zealand hop varieties that are currently produced in limited quantities in Europe.
Adapted to León
The programme is based on a nursery collection of 34 plants from European, American and New Zealand genetic backgrounds, established in León for more than five years.
Their agronomic performance has been monitored annually, providing a solid basis for assessing how each variety behaves under local growing conditions.
Production based on demand
The programme is designed to develop commercial production according to brewery requirements.
Reaching commercial scale takes approximately three years:
- Year one: propagation and establishment.
- Year two: first, limited harvest.
- Year three: larger and more stable commercial production.
This allows us to plan specific varieties in advance and adjust planted area and production volumes to expected demand.
Taking part
Interested breweries can contact us for more information. Our aim is to make difficult-to-source American and New Zealand varieties available through planned, demand-led production in León.