hops
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hops
A climbing plant whose dried, cone-like flowers are used to brew beer in order to give it its bitter taste and aroma.
Die Hallertau in Bayern ist das größte zusammenhängende Hopfenanbaugebiet der Welt.
The Hallertau region in Bavaria is the largest contiguous hops-growing area in the world.
to be a lost cause
An idiom that expresses that a situation is hopeless or a person is incorrigible and all effort has been in vain.
Nachdem er die Prüfung zum dritten Mal nicht bestanden hat, ist bei ihm wirklich Hopfen und Malz verloren.
After he failed the exam for the third time, he really is a lost cause.
Hops are one of the four main ingredients of German beer according to the traditional Purity Law. They are almost always mentioned together with 'Malz' (malt), the other important plant-based ingredient.
Für gutes Bier braucht man nur Wasser, Malz, Hopfen und Hefe.
For good beer, you only need water, malt, hops, and yeast.
The idiom 'Bei jemandem/etwas ist Hopfen und Malz verloren' (someone/something is a lost cause) is fixed and unchangeable. It expresses that all effort is in vain and a situation or person can no longer be saved.
Er will einfach nicht lernen. Ich glaube, bei ihm ist Hopfen und Malz verloren.
He simply doesn't want to study. I think he is a lost cause.
You can always recognize the idiomatic meaning from the complete phrase 'Hopfen und Malz verloren' (a lost cause). If 'Hopfen' (hops) is used alone or in the context of agriculture, brewing, or beer, it refers to the plant.
Der Bauer erntet den Hopfen im Spätsommer.
The farmer harvests the hops in late summer.
When 'Hopfen' (hops) refers to the brewing ingredient, it is usually used as an uncountable noun, or mass noun. It then often appears in the singular without an article.
Dieses Bier enthält besonders viel Hopfen und schmeckt daher sehr bitter.
This beer contains especially a lot of hops and therefore tastes very bitter.
