HOP QUERIES

* Thora
* Hop harvest estimates
* Vera hopped beers honored at GABF
* Fresh hop winners
* Alpha King winners
* Read and listen to this

Welcome to Vol. 9, No. 6. There are plenty of hop varieties out there whose names end in a, but I’m not sure if three have been put forward in the same year. But here we are: Vera, Dolcita and Thora. Getting a name may seem like the end of a journey — after all, Vera resulted from a cross made in 2011, Dolcita one in 2016, and Thora one in 2015 — but, really, this is just the beginning for all of them.

THORA

The Hop Quality Group and the USDA-ARS have revealed the name of the newest hop variety, Thora, and announced that the plant material (that doesn’t sound sexy, but you get the idea) is, like other public varieties, available “for commercial production, research purposes, and the breeding and development and commercialization of new cultivars.”

The name Thora is of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Old Norse name Þóra, which is a feminine form of Þórr, the name of the Norse god of thunder, Thor. (In its native language, Thora is pronounced Thawr-ah, with the emphasis on the first syllable.) Brewers will surely see the potential for incorporating Thora and/or its meaning in new beer names.

Thora is the first variety to emerge from the collaboration between the Hop Quality Group and the USDA public breeding program that began in 2015. The HQG provided funding, its members gave direction to John Henning and Angela Randazzo at the USDA, conducted brewing trials and otherwise participated in every part of the process that led to the release.

Backing up a bit, Henning made 38 crosses for the HQG, that is cross-pollinated females and males of interest, in 2015, producing 30,000 seeds. Those were sprouted in pots in a greenhouse in 2016. Only 600 of those proved to be disease resistant enough to planted in a field in 2017. Following another season, samples from 60 contenders that remained were sent to HQG members to rub and sniff.

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* John I. Haas & Hop Head Farms
* Advanced forms and functions
* Fresh hops: The science
* Fresh hops: The controversy (?)
* Hop profile: Over/underrated

Welcome to Vol. 9, No. 5. In the introduction to “For the Love of Hops,” sixth-generation hop farmer Alex Feiner told me, “They say whoever is scratched by the hops cannot escape them.” That was apparent, once again, earlier this month when Daria and I visited farms in Oregon and Washington. Harvest signals an end, but also that a new brewing season is ahead. It might not make sense – after three years of acreage reduction and looking at a beer market that is not flashing green – but it seemed as if you could smell optimism as well as fresh hops in the kilns.

Of course, industry change is also always in the air. Today, John I. Haas and Hop Head Farms in Michigan announced that beginning Nov. 1 Haas will take over fulfillment of Hop Head’s existing contracts and customer relationships for non-Michigan grown hops. Hop Head will continue to farm and sell direct to market Michigan grown hops. Haas also announced a partnership with warehouse and logistics provider Lineage to operate a dedicated East Coast distribution hub in Pennsylvania.

What hasn’t changed is witnessing how exciting harvest is for brewers, particularly those experiencing it for the first time. We were gone by the time Michael James Jackson Foundation awardees arrived in the Yakima Valley, but Breeze Galindo captured a bit of it. And a story in the Yakima Herald-Republic adds perspective. (This version, with photos, appeared in the Seattle Times, and fortunately does not reside behind a paywall.)

BACK TO BASICS

Established in 2012, Hop Head Farms began selling hops grown elsewhere as well as its own almost from the beginning. It contracted with four German hop growers in 2013 to deliver bales of newly released varieties, such as Huell Melon and Mandarina Bavaria. As its own acreage expanded, so did relationships with growers elsewhere. Their spot hops catalog, including varieties supplied by Haas, illustrates how wide the range of what they offered became. That is changing.

“The future is growing our Michigan varieties, producing great hops,” Hop Head CEO Perry Veith said last week while visiting company farms. Yields this season were outstanding across the board, and he sounded optimistic. “I think the cycle is close to turning,” he said. Hop Head harvested “a couple of hundred acres” in 2025, and has room to expand.

“We’ve been partnering with Hop Head for close to a decade now, and I think this is just that natural next step,” said Haas CEO Tom Davis. “The market’s dictating a lot of it. Everyone’s feeling the pinch, whether it’s the brewer side, and certainly the grower side, and the distributors in between. The natural next step . . . is to do what you do best, and I think Hop Head does an excellent job. They’re the best in Michigan hops.”

The changes give Haas a larger footprint east of the Mississippi. “We’re going to be working more closely with these new customers, these new brewers,” Davis said. “Utilizing our East Coast distribution center will help because we’ll be able to get those hops out to those customers, as well as other brewers, much faster. Further penetration into the smaller craft brewers is an excellent part of the story from the Haas side.”

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* Here comes Dolcita
* German hop production shrinks
* Beyond Saaz
* Drought conditions in England
* Counting hops
* Oregon Hop Festival
* Hop Source Sept. 23-25
* New Lupulin Exchange tool
* Reference material
* Listen here

Welcome to Vol. 9, No. 4. As the list right above indicates, there’s plenty of information to pass along this month, which means keeping everything brief. I’ll start with something I learned in Argentina earlier this month. How do you say hop burn in Spanish? Hop burn. Same in Portuguese as well.

DOLCITA

From the press release: “Hop Breeding Company (HBC) is proud to announce the official commercial release of Dolcita brand HBC 1019, a new and innovative hop variety designed to meet the high expectations of brewers and beer lovers around the world. Created in 2016 using traditional breeding methods and HBC’s proprietary breeding stock, Dolcita is one of the fastest hops ever brought to market by HBC.”

I posted more at the newsletter website, and also wrote about Dolcita and other newcomers for Brewing Industry Guide. You can find even more at the John I. Haas and Yakima Chief Hops websites.

FROM GERMANY

As you can see, there is a new Hallertau hop queen (the Tettnang region has a queen of its own). She was crowned last week at a fest party that signals the beginning of harvest. Unlike in the United States, where we must wait until December to learn how many million pounds farmers harvested, the German Hop Growers Association publishes an official estimate for the crop (scroll down for English). Farmers are expected to produce 41,235 metric tons (about 90.7 million pounds and likely more than the U.S. crop), 11 percent fewer than 2024. Growers cut acreage by 6.5 percent and yields were adversely affected by a lack of rain until mid-July and further reduced by disease and pest pressure.

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* New Zealand flooding
* What tools to use & when
* Hop Profile: Talus
* Good listening

Welcome to Vol. 9, No. 3. The BarthHaas Report 2024/25 will be published next Tuesday (July 22). The release always provides useful information about the previous global harvest and hints about what to expect in the coming months. I’ll be a few days into the beginning of a stretch of travel during which I’ll be home eight out of 31 days. That’s why you are getting this now and a summary of the report will have to wait until the August dispatch.

DISASTER DOWN UNDER

What’s going on in the Tasman region of New Zealand is what they call a breaking news story. At the end of last month, rain hammered the area. Here’s part of the message that Brent McGlashen posted on Mac Hops Instagram feed:

“Statistically and visually, we hit above the 1 in 100-year flood level, with also highest ever recorded river flows in a number of parts in the Motueka river. There were stopbank breaches in places, but luckily the Motueka township was a couple of feet away from near disaster with the high tide also causing issues.

“Both our farms have water everywhere, fences with damage and some debris scattered around, but we are fortunate compared to others who have had significant damage and loss due to the flooding. Was this predicted, well yes it was. Forecasters said over 200mm and we sure got that. We have had a wet winter and the ground can’t absorb more so it has to go somewhere.”

One hop farmer died as a result of the storm. Peter Lines was clearing flood damage from his property in Wai-iti, southwest of Nelson, when he was hit by a tree. This tribute on Instagram provides an idea of how important he was to the hop growing community.

Another round of rain arrived last week, leaving fields under water and dumping mud, gravel and sand on facilities that had just been cleaned up (or were still being cleaned up). Hayden Oldham from New Hoplands said “it’s back to the start. Everything we cleaned up has been spread back out and gone through sheds and gardens.” He said downed trees swept into fast moving water had taken down hop poles.

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