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Golden Promise is a variety of spring-sown two-row barley. It was developed in the 1950s by exposing an existing variety to gamma radiation with the aim of producing a semi-dwarf variety of barley that had good malting characteristics. It became very popular with farmers during the 1970s but began to be replaced by higher yielding varieties in the 1980s. Due to its perceived better flavour than these more modern varieties, a niche market was maintained and it is still favoured by craft brewers. It has been used by researchers to study the genetics of barley and to investigate the effect of barley on the flavour of beer.

Development

Golden Promise was developed in the 1950s by breeding company Miln Marsters who aimed to produce a semi-dwarf variety of barley that had good malting characteristics.^[1] Seed of the traditional variety Maythorpe was irradiated with gamma radiation to produce mutants with altered genes and 14,000 lines were grown in 1958 to assess their stature and agronomic properties.^[2]^[1] The best lines were then selected over several years and entered into official testing between 1962 and 1964. Farmers were initially sceptical about the variety due to its appearance but it was first grown commercially in Scotland in 1967 and performed well, producing high yields and grain suitable for malting. It was placed on the recommended list for Scotland in 1968 and by 1977, 70% of the spring barley grown in Scotland was Golden Promise.^[1] The area planted with Golden Promise declined during the 1980s and from a peak of 81,900 hectares (202,000 acres) in 1981, less than 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) were grown annually during the 1990s.^[3]

Malting

The short dormancy of the seed and uniform grain size make Golden Promise ideal for malting and it was used widely by the brewing and distilling industries in the UK and Ireland during the 1960s and 1970s.^[1]^[3] During the 1980s the variety was nearing the end of its commercial lifespan, but it was still popular with breweries such as Timothy Taylor Brewery who used it in their Landlord beer. Consequently the Chairman of Simpsons Malt, Simon Simpson purchased a farm in 1983 to ensure the continued supply of Golden Promise and in 2015 the company acquired the plant variety rights.^[4]

In 1999, Caledonian Brewery signed a deal with Simpsons to have the exclusive rights to use the barley to brew their Deuchar beers.^[5] Caledonian also produced a beer called Golden Promise named after the variety and which was the UK's first organic beer and the first organic ale available in the US.^[6]^[5] By 1999 the brewery could not obtain sufficient quantities of Golden Promise so the beer was not brewed using the variety.^[5]^[7] For producing whisky, The Macallan distillery had exclusive rights but gradually reduced the proportion it used, replacing it with higher yielding varieties.^[8]^[5] By 1994 the variety was in decline but was still favoured by small brewers due to perceived differences in flavour compared to more modern varieties.^[9] During the 2010s, the variety was held in a similar regard by brewers to Maris Otter, a winter-sown variety of barley which was bred in the 1960s.^[10]

Although the variety of barley was considered by brewers to influence the flavour of beer, there was little scientific evidence. To investigate, during the 2010s researchers crossed Golden Promise and Full Pint to produce a population of barley genotypes, some of which were also grown in different environments and they were used to produce hundreds of beers. The study confirmed that barley variety influenced beer flavour and was more influential than the growing environment. Further, they found that malting quality was unrelated to flavour so breeding programs concentrating on malting quality will not necessarily produce varieties with good flavour.^[11]^[12] Further research investigated the genetic basis of the differences in flavour.^[13]

Genetics

The semi-dwarf nature of Golden Promise is controlled by the ari-e.GP gene located on chromosome 7.^[14]^[15] In the 1990s it was discovered by accident that the semi-dwarf gene also conveys salt tolerance.^[16] Golden Promise was used as a parent to produce other varieties including Midas, Goldfield, Goldmarker and Goldspear but these were not commercially successful.^[17]^[1] As of 2015^[update] contemporary semi-dwarf varieties mostly contain the sdw1 gene from Diamant, itself created through x-ray irradiation.^[1]

The variety is frequently used in genetic research on barley as it is relatively easy to genetically transform due to the shoots regrowing easily from the callus. As a result of the widespread use of Golden Promise in barley research, its genome was sequenced and a reference assembly was released in 2020.^[18]

Agronomic properties

The semi-dwarf trait made the variety more resistant to lodging than older varieties and it was also earlier-maturing, two traits which aided harvesting.^[1] Golden Promise typically yields 4.5 tonnes per hectare (4,000 pounds per acre) which is one third lower than modern varieties of barley as of 2021^[update].^[3]^[4] Farmers receive a premium price to compensate for the reduced yield.^[10] It is very susceptible to powdery mildew.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Janick, Jules (12 October 2015). Plant Breeding Reviews. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-1-119-10771-2.
^ Agar, Jon; Ward, Jacob (2018). "Crops in a machine". Histories of technology, the environment, and modern Britain. London. ISBN 9781911576570.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c Ahloowalia, B.S.; Maluszynski, M.; Nichterlein, K. (2004). "Global impact of mutation-derived varieties". Euphytica. 135 (2): 187–204. doi:10.1023/b:euph.0000014914.85465.4f. S2CID 34494057.
^ ^a ^b "Golden Promise: The complete story of this heritage malt". Simpsons Malt. 23 August 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "On a Golden Promise". The Scotsman. 14 September 1999. ProQuest 327512628.
^ Edgar, David (March 1993). "Organica - Organic and natural beer". Buzzworm. ProQuest 218428713.
^ Protz, Roger (27 June 1999). "The organic issue: On the hop Organic beer could fill a gaping niche in the market. If only the hops were readily available...". The Observer. ProQuest 250383114. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
^ "Golden promise - Whisky Magazine". whiskymag.com. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ Jackson, Michael (19 February 1994). "Drink: A trend that goes against the grain: New varieties of". The Independent. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hill, Oliver (5 June 2017). "Scottish estate hits premium price with Golden Promise barley". Farmers Weekly. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ Hill, Chris (29 November 2017). "Barley breakthrough solves beer flavour debate, say Norwich scientists". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^ Herb, Dustin; Filichkin, Tanya; Fisk, Scott; Helgerson, Laura; Hayes, Patrick; Meints, Brigid; Jennings, Rebecca; Monsour, Robert; Tynan, Sean; Vinkemeier, Kristi; Romagosa, Ignacio; Moscou, Matthew; Carey, Daniel; Thiel, Randy; Cistue, Luis; Martens, Christopher; Thomas, William (1 September 2017). "Effects of Barley ( Hordeum Vulgare L.) Variety and Growing Environment on Beer Flavor". Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists. 75 (4): 345–353. doi:10.1094/ASBCJ-2017-4860-01. hdl:10459.1/63104. S2CID 54063423.
^ Sayre-Chavez, Brooke; Bettenhausen, Harmonie; Windes, Sarah; Aron, Patricia; Cistué, Luis; Fisk, Scott; Helgerson, Laura; Heuberger, Adam L.; Tynan, Sean; Hayes, Patrick; Muñoz-Amatriaín, María (March 2022). "Genetic basis of barley contributions to beer flavor". Journal of Cereal Science. 104: 103430. doi:10.1016/j.jcs.2022.103430. hdl:10261/270334. S2CID 246524385.
^ Liu, Hui; Bayer, Micha; Druka, Arnis; Russell, Joanne R; Hackett, Christine A; Poland, Jesse; Ramsay, Luke; Hedley, Pete E; Waugh, Robbie (December 2014). "An evaluation of genotyping by sequencing (GBS) to map the Breviaristatum-e (ari-e) locus in cultivated barley". BMC Genomics. 15 (1): 104. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-104. PMC 3922333. PMID 24498911.
^ Thomas, W. T. B.; Powell, W.; Wood, W. (August 1984). "The chromosomal location of the dwarfing gene present in the spring barley variety golden promise". Heredity. 53 (1): 177–183. doi:10.1038/hdy.1984.73. ISSN 1365-2540. S2CID 20742498.
^ Forster, Brian P. (2001). "Mutation genetics of salt tolerance in barley: An assessment of Golden Promise and other semi-dwarf mutants". Euphytica. 120 (3): 317–328. doi:10.1023/A:1017592618298. S2CID 22320510.
^ Thomas, Bill. "50 years a mutant – the Golden Promise story". James Hutton Institute. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
^ Schreiber, Miriam; Mascher, Martin; Wright, Jonathan; Padmarasu, Sudharasan; Himmelbach, Axel; Heavens, Darren; Milne, Linda; Clavijo, Bernardo J; Stein, Nils; Waugh, Robbie (1 June 2020). "A Genome Assembly of the Barley 'Transformation Reference' Cultivar Golden Promise". G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. 10 (6): 1823–1827. doi:10.1534/g3.119.401010. PMC 7263683. PMID 32241919.