Taiwan's high mountains grow local hops, and the original motive was actually to make monkeys dislike eating them
This autumn and winter in Luoshao, Hualien, are a little different from before. The forest, full of phytoncides, now carries an extra scent of beer. In recent years, a craft beer trend has risen in the country, and many businesses or homebrewers have begun using local wheat or ingredients to make alcohol. However, hops, which give beer its unique flavor, have never been able to be grown on a large scale in Taiwan because of the hot climate. Cai Jianfu, an associate professor at the College of Environmental Studies at National Dong Hwa University, tried growing hops this year at high-altitude Luoshao, and after four months they finally flowered successfully, and the first batch of beer was trial-brewed.
Cai Qingxiu, a professor at the Graduate Institute of Biotechnology at National Chung Hsing University, believes that the low temperatures and long sunshine hours in Taiwan's high mountains are suitable for hop growth and hold considerable potential. As for Taiwan's first batch of hops, domestic craft beer businesses have differing views, but they share a common expectation for the performance of domestically grown hops, showing a unique flavor through Taiwan's terroir.
The great mountain beside the most beautiful scenic highway, where wild boars bathe, becomes Luoshao
From Hualien Station heading north, turn toward the Shakadang Trail and wind upward along the Central Cross-Island Highway. Outside the car window are white clouds floating like cotton candy, layered and overlapping mountain peaks, and lush forests. This place was once voted by people nationwide as one of Taiwan's top ten most beautiful scenic highways. Enjoying the scenery of Taroko National Park along the way, after a one-and-a-half-hour drive, stop at Luoshao at an altitude of 1117 m.
"The name Luoshao is beautiful, but its real meaning is far from it." Cai Jianfu, an associate professor at the College of Environmental Studies at National Dong Hwa University, explained with a smile that most people think Luoshao means the radiant beauty of the Luo River, but in fact Luoshao is a transliteration of what Indigenous peoples used to call this place, and its true meaning is a pool of muddy water after wild boars have bathed.
The Luoshao mountain village has about a dozen households, and the cool air carries an extra fairy-like quality of being far from the dust of the world. Yet as soon as the people here see monkeys, their expressions change. "Not only monkeys, but also wild boars and Reeves's muntjacs. To farmers, they are enemies that affect income." Cai Jianfu said that some residents and national park volunteers had gone into the forests and found more than twenty hunting tools and animal traps, and incidents of poisoning wild animals are also often heard of.
Towering vegetables and fruits, and farmers guarding them with monkey nets and skyward rockets
Luoshao and the neighboring Xinbaiyang and Xibao produce peaches, watermelon plums, apples, Asian pears, cabbage and baby cabbage. Enough sunlight and the coolness of high altitude make the crops especially delicious. However, the agricultural products that can be sent to the plains are all the result of farmers struggling against the monkeys.
Arriving at Chaoliang Farm in Xinbaiyang, the altitude of 1700 m and slopes steeper than 30 degrees leave people gasping for breath while climbing. After several dangerous falls and dogs barking to guard against strangers, the owner Yang Chaoliang finally appears. He neatly puts the monkey-proof net into a bag, carries it on his back and walks back to the work shed. "Monkeys are very smart. At first we used skyward rockets to scare them, but later they realized we would set off skyward rockets when we were going down the mountain, so we added monkey-proof nets."
The farm has peaches, cabbage, baby cabbage and so on, and the slightly flatter places are all used to grow vegetables. Yang Chaoliang said that after switching from conventional farming to organic farming, what has not changed is the opposition to monkeys and other animals. Sometimes there is a compromise and some is left for the animals to eat, "but monkeys are never obedient. The prettier ones meant to be kept for sale are exactly the ones they eat more of."
Hoping high-mountain agriculture can switch to hops, which monkeys do not like to eat, so naturally there is no conflict
Originally coming to look for bamboo material to learn how to make a dongxiao, Cai Jianfu walked into Luoshao and saw local farmers coming into conflict with animals in order to protect crops. "To protect crops, everyone chases monkeys and wild boars back and forth, and even sets animal traps." From the perspective of conservation, he began to think about whether there was a possibility of resolving the human-animal opposition. Later, by chance, he met friends in Hualien who homebrew beer, which triggered an inspiration.
"Hops are bitter, and their stems and leaves have fine hairs, so animals should not like to eat them, and hops can brew beer, so perhaps they can replace some high-mountain crops." He, whose expertise is ecological communities and rural development, believes that the local climate conditions are suitable for growing hops. If high-mountain farmers are allowed to switch crops, they can maintain income and also resolve the hostile relationship with animals, a solution that satisfies both sides.
To grow hops, first learn to drink and brew
"I actually did not drink much before, and did not like drinking, but in order to grow hops I started drinking seriously." Cai Jianfu said with a smile that in order to confirm whether hop cultivation was feasible, he began collecting hop information, searching for a suitable growing environment, learning to drink, distinguishing the flavors of various beers, and practicing how to homebrew beer.
At the beginning of this year he began looking for seedlings, and in May of this year planted them in Luoshao. After more than four months of waiting, the first batch of hops was harvested in mid-September. Because it was his first time growing them, Cai Jianfu admitted that the process was not smooth. "Next, I tried raising more than two hundred seedlings myself, and only more than fifty survived. The seedling-raising techniques still need more research."
Part of the harvested hops was sun-dried, and part was stored as wet flowers at low temperature. At the time, campus affairs were complicated, so brewing did not begin until November 30. "This may be the first batch of beer in all of Taiwan brewed with hops." He pulled the hops into the pot of boiling wort, and the aroma instantly filled the entire kitchen. After brewing, it would take three weeks before its flavor could be known.
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