Chinese scientist honored for research in beer hops chemistry

The US beer company needed a hops researcher, and the Texas resident with a doctorate in organic chemistry needed a job.

Patrick Lu-ping Ting didn't start out a beer drinker, but in 1978 he began his employment with Miller Brewing Co, now known as MillerCoors, where it became his duty to taste beer twice daily.

"When I started to drink Miller High Life, I would add ice because I didn't want the beer to be too strong," Ting said. "But working at MillerCoors, I became trained to do all the sensory evaluations and that's when I started learning how to drink beer."

After 34 years conducting hops research for the Wisconsin-based brewing company, Ting retired in 2012.

Last week the American Society of Brewing Chemists honored the 67-year-old Tianjin native with its Award of Distinction for his contributions in the hops field and shaping the brewing industry's knowledge of this essential brewing ingredient.

"Ting has been very influential in the hops and hop chemistry communities," said Thomas Shellhammer, president-elect of the board of directors for ASBC and a professor of fermentation science at Oregon State University. "His work has driven the hopping regimes for Miller brand beers."

The ceremony was held in Tucson, Arizona, during the ASBC annual meeting filled with four days of technical-education sessions on topics like safety and hygiene or flavor and stability, as well as workshops on subjects such as quality management or water quality and beer styles.

"Brewing is an art, but its chemistry dominates its quality, consistency, versatility and stability," said Ting, who holds 17 US hops and beer-related patents. "Hops are the most versatile brewing ingredient and have been considered an essential part of beer, imparting it with bitterness and distinguishing aromas and flavors."

Hops help balance the sweetness of malt - another essential beer ingredient - and its chemistry contributes to a variety of flavors and aromas, such as floral, citrus, spicy, fruity, piney and herbal.

"There was a meeting where the malt people and the hop people were arguing," Ting said about a workshop held during the annual meeting. "The malt people say, 'No, no, no, malt is the soul of the beer. Hops are just the spice of the beer.'"

Hops are also used in brewing for their antibacterial effect and are sometimes incorporated in herbal medicine. During the Middle Ages, beers tended to be low in alcohol content and commonly consumed as a safer alternative to untreated water.

Ting and his colleagues' patented technologies led to the founding of the Watertown Hops Co in 1987 to produce "light-stable" hop extracts for brewing.

Prior to 1960, Ting said beer was commonly packaged in transparent or green color bottles, which would produce "a notorious skunky odor" when exposed to direct sunlight, thus ruining such festivities as picnics or outdoor sporting events where beer is a popular drink of choice.

As early as 1950, Miller Brewing Co initiated a hop research and development program to pioneer a light-stable product packaged in a clear bottle, according to Ting. The resulting product became Miller High Life, which debuted in 1961.

Ting's research continued the company's efforts toward new hops applications that he said promote the quality, flexibility and novelty in beer products.

Every year he worked at MillerCoors, Ting received at least 10 different hop or experimental varieties to brew and test.

In 2009, Ting said he actively led a movement to spread recognition of the unique brewing qualities of "Citra" - a new, US-produced hop variety that conveys a range of fruity flavors, including gooseberry, passion fruit, lychee and sauvignon blanc wine.

MillerCoors financially supported the Citra breeder to help commercialize the new product, and now the variety is popular among craft brewers and home brewers alike, and particularly favored in India pale ales, such as Sierra Nevada's Torpedo Extra IPA.

Even after retiring, Ting strives to keep up-to-date in the hops research industry. The beer scientist runs Hop Ting Resources LLC, as a consulting resource for clients, including his former employer.

Ting also serves as a technical representative for Hop Growers of America, which recently began promoting US hops in China. He traveled with the organization to China in 2012 to give a presentation using American hops to brew beer and offering taste tests, and visited a selection of large and small breweries.

"Right now, everyone is interested in hop flavors," Ting said. "Flavoring with hops is a very difficult and complex process."

Ting said his goal is to share his decades' of knowledge with the next generation of brewers. He also said he believes in the title of the book by brewing professor Charles Bamforth at the University of California, Davis Beer is Proof God Loves Us.

carolineberg@chinadailyusa.com