To mark the end of the harvest and to welcome the new hop sovereigns into office, we invited them to the start of the season. In addition to the hop sovereigns from Hallertau, Tettnang, Jura and Siegenburg, the invitation was accepted by numerous prominent figures from the hop industry, the Member of Parliament Petra Högl, District Administrator Martin Neumeyer and Mayor Gerhard Zeitler, as well as representatives of the press.
After a warm welcome to all attendees and an opening speech by Peter Hintermeier, Managing Director of BarthHaas, Dr. Johann Pichlmaier, Chairman of the Board of HVG and Managing Director of HV, emphasized the importance of a functioning value chain from research to the finished product for the competitiveness of German hops. Florian Herkner, Managing Director of HV, also explained the great importance of sustainability for the companies and the region and gave an insight into the new energy concept, in which EUR 10 million will be invested in spent grains incineration and photovoltaics in the coming months. The focus of the event was on imparting knowledge about hop processing, the processes and the products manufactured - in short, the refinement of the "green gold". During the factory tour, the guests from hop-growing companies were given an understanding of the hops' journey from delivery, through processing and packaging, to storage in cold stores.
During the subsequent get-together, with beer brewed especially for the event in the company's own research brewery using hops from the new harvest, these topics were discussed in greater depth in one-on-one discussions in the spirit of the strong dialog between politics and business.