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High Country Hop, the annual celebration of the Australian hop harvest is returning in its ninth year with Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson joining some of Australia’s top craft brewers. Brynildson will be the keynote speaker at the event’s technical symposium ahead of the festival.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2022 National Hop Report shows that hop production for Idaho, Oregon, and Washington in totaled 101 million pounds last year, down 12 percent from the 2021 crop of 116 million pounds.
In the rafters and tucked away in various spots throughout the Embrace The Funk cellar in Nashville, Tennessee there are burlap bags of hops, aging away through the passage of time, waiting to be dropped into a coolship or used in a saison.
Winter is firmly in place and the fields in the Pacific Northwest are dormant, but in the offices, labs, and greenhouses the discussion is already turning to the 2023 crop and harvest.
Peter Mahony the Vice President, Supply Chain/Purchasing at John I. Haas, Inc. spoke with ProBrewer contributor John Holl on what is on the horizon for this year.
The turning of a new calendar means thinking about the agricultural crop of the coming season. While there is still many months until the U.S. crop is ready for harvest, we’re mere weeks away in the southern hemisphere.
ProBrewer contributor John Holl spoke with Owen Johnston, Head of Sales and Marketing at Hop Products Australia (HPA) about the 2023 crop and overall outlook for Australia.
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West Coast Hop Breeding, a network of six Oregon hop farmers that have teamed up to develop new hop varieties, has released their first varietal called McKenzie.
McKenzie was bred over a 5 year process. Lead breeder Pat Leavy grew up fishing the McKenzie River and came up with the name for the “bright and fruity” hop with grapefruit, lemon, nectarine, and melon aromas that is backed by pine, resin, and wood.
In thinking about sustainability and flavor, a California company has been 3D mapping hops to create natural, optimized hop extracts to beers giving brewers a chance to dial in recipes to exact specifications.
“By understanding and being able to pinpoint compounds in hops, triangulate sensory and expectations off of what we think it could be, we have created a more true to type variety,” says Ross Hunsinger, Director of Food and Beverage Innovation for ABSTRAX.
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It’s not unusual for brewers to trade information about new hop varieties and text or email one another about how to best use experimental varieties. The products usually involve a big hop company that has heavily invested in a years long research project, sending the new varieties out for testing to a few select breweries. But some ingredients fly even further under the radar.
Phantasm is one of the lowest key ingredients out there. Very difficult to source, challenging to find information about, word of Phantasm spread largely through the brewing underground in the past year.
There is a certain love that comes with a fresh pint of fresh hopped IPA that gets beer fans of all stripes a sense of wonder and delight. While some will think that these beers should be consumed within hours of being brewed or packaged there are some brewers who believe giving these beers a little bit of time is beneficial to everyone.
Zach Beckwith formerly of Bend Brewing talked with Beer Edge Editor John Holl about his thoughts of how to best serve fresh hop IPAs.
Hop harvest is in full swing around North America and countless brewing professionals are making the pilgrimage to the Pacific Northwest to visit farms, walk the fields, and conduct rubbings that will lead to lot selections.
The hop industry has grown in the United States and become more diverse as the craft beer segment has grown and looked for new varietals and products that they can add to recipes to bring vibrant aromas to the glass.
Companies in the hop space are eager to keep up and innovation has come fast and furious. From freeze dried Cryo fresh hops to varieties grown for a specific style of beer, there is a dizzying amount of choice these days.
Climate change is on the mind of every farmer and grower in the Pacific Northwest these days. From the average temperature rising over two degrees over the last several decades, to wildfires, and unusual rain patterns, there is a lot to be thinking about and acting upon not to mitigate problems in the future.
Kevin Quinn of Bale Breaker Brewing in Washington’s Yakima Valley spoke with Beer Edge editor John Holl about this year’s harvest on Loftus Ranch, where the brewery is located, and how they are thinking about the future.
Brewers Association (BA) staff will conduct the Hopsource hop sensory assessment in Yakima, Washington again in 2022. Brewers and industry members visiting Yakima for hop selection will have the opportunity to evaluate over 20 varieties of hops that are being considered for advancement in the BA-funded United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Public Hop Breeding Program.
The purpose of Hopsource is to gauge brewer interest in experimental public hop varieties, by harnessing the power of dozens of noses to crowdsource hop variety acceptance.
The global hop company BarthHaas has said in its August report that its German hop crop is estimated to be down by as much as 20% vs. 2021. The early maturing varieties such as Hallertau Mittelfrüh, Northern Brewer, Traditional and Perle) have been affected the most.
New Zealand hop grower and distributor Hop Revolution has partnered with Crosby Hops to expand its business in the US.
The agreement will include exclusive US hop processing, cold storage, order fulfilment and give brewers across North America better access to Hop Revolution varieties like Pacific Sunrise and other New Zealand grown proprietary blends.
In a move that will influence the variety and style of beers being brewed on US soil, the market will now see high quality Nelson Sauvin – including in T-90 and the new lupulin-packed Crosby CGX concentrated pellet formats, plus Motueka and Riwaka become widely available.
The United States Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has officially released a new public hop variety. The hop formerly known as USDA-ARS experimental line 2006009-074 has been renamed “Vista.”
Vista is described as having superior agronomic traits and unique aroma characteristics and “displays aromas of gooseberry, white wine, white peach, honeydew and papaya.”
Attendees at the 2022 Craft Brewers Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota will have the opportunity to evaluate Vista in a seminar led by breeder John Henning and delegates of the Hop Growers of America, and later sample beers brewed with Vista at the Hop Growers of America booth in the BrewExpo America trade show. As with any new hop variety, only limited quantities from the 2021 crop are currently available.
The Hop Growers of America have released their annual statistical report which shows that 2021 was a good year overall for the US hop growing industry.
Despite unprecedented challenges throughout the 2021 growing season, the U.S. hop industry managed to harvest a record-breaking 116.5 million pounds of hops. Commercial acreage increased by 4%.
For the fourth year running Citra HBC 394 remains dominant in acreage, this season commanding nearly 1 out of every 5 hop bines in the Pacific Northwest and tallying a total of 11,994 acres. For the first time Mosaic HBC 369 clinched the number two spot with 6,374 acres, preceding third place super alpha CTZ and fourth place Cascade.
Brewers are always searching for new ways to push the brewing envelope and to maximize the flavor potential of their ingredients. Hop farmers and suppliers work hard to match that level of experimentation with creative new products. Cryo Hops remain an exciting yet efficient way of having it all for brewers.
Whether called Cryo, Lupulin Pellet (Hopsteiner), or LUPOMAX (Haas), these pellets are a concentrated form of lupulin, the tiny yellow golden hued glands inside a hop cone. To maximize the intensity of flavors and aromas, the producers separate lupulin from the hop’s green vegetal matter. “A Cryo Hop is the pure extracted lupulin gland of the hop cone,” says Brandon Ross, Specialty Brand Manager for Hop Valley Brewing in Eugene, Oregon. “Think of lupulin as the pollen of the hop, which contains all of the compounds and oils that give hops the flavor and aroma characteristics that we love.”
The process boosts the flavor and aroma potential of the hop but in a much more concentrated and effective form, capturing all of the alpha acids and essential oils usually experienced in a T90 pellet with less potential for off-flavors. “Brewing with Cryo Hops greatly enhances hop flavor and aroma, without the leafy grassiness and astringency from the hop cone’s plant material,” says Ross. “When using a full hop cone, brewers have to battle how to add hops in order to get the flavors they’re looking for, while trying to avoid any off flavors that can also come from the hop’s leaf and stem. Cryo Hops separate the good compounds we are looking for, and remove the ones we want to avoid.”
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Last year offered challenges to hop growers in the United States. What will the new year bring? Are there enough acres planted? What hops are in demand? How did last summer’s heat event in the Pacific Northwest change the crop and alter future plans? Eric Desmarais, the owner of CLS Farms in Yakima, Washington has been involved in the industry for a long time and has perspective on the year-to-year machinations of crops as well as a proper outlook for the new year.
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Yakima Chief Hops has completed construction of a cold storage warehouse in Belgium. Although Yakima Chief Hops has been supplying brewers worldwide for many years, the expansion into Europe is intended to improve logistics and allow for faster delivery times to brewery customers.
“Establishing a foundation here in Europe speaks to the commitment YCH has to delivering the highest quality hops directly to its global brewing customers,” said Denis Gayte – Managing Director for YCH Europe. “Our new facility ensures that our hops grown in America’s Pacific Northwest can be stored here in Europe and delivered to customers in the best possible condition.”
Located in Mont Saint Guibert, the 6,600 square foot warehouse includes cold storage capacity for up to 8,800 pallets of hops, office space, a taproom and a visitor center where customers can learn about hops and sample beers. Yakima Chief has also invested in a homebrew production line allowing the ability to offer high-quality hop pellets in smaller size packaging for home and nano brewers.
22nd Century Group, Inc., a plant biotechnology company, has announced plans to enter the global specialty hops market. The company is currently involved in the tobacco and hemp/cannabis industries.
In a letter to company shareholders, James A. Mish, Chief Executive Officer of 22nd Century Group stated that “…the hop plant market is ripe for disruption and offers opportunities for 22nd Century to provide unique and significant competitive advantages to commercial partners.”
22nd Century plans to use its plant breeding technologies, gene-editing, and molecular breeding to create new, proprietary hop plants with optimized alkaloid and flavonoid profiles as well as improved yields and agronomic traits.