* Random observation
* Vanishing varieties
* Chinook Cup winners
* Hop profile: Herkules
Welcome to Vol. 8, No. 9. Hello hop industry subscribers who are headed to the American Hop Convention in Southern California later this week. If you want to drop me a postcard post-convention with your thoughts it will help make for a better February newsletter. Seriously, although in this case I mean an email.)
RANDOM OBSERVATION: THE MANY FACES OF SUSTAINABILITY
In the most recent Hop Notes, Eric Sannerud pleads the case for supporting public hops. Six-plus years ago I wrote a story for Beer Advocate magazine about the relationship between public hops and proprietary hops. It was their final issue and not all the stories within are archived at the BA website, so I will share two quotes.
“I believe in the small democratic nature of farming. I’m an idealist in that way. Public hops allow everybody the opportunity,” said John Mallet, then director of operations at Bell’s Brewery and now retired.
“Our industry was built on public hops. We cut our teeth growing these hops,” said Blake Crosby, CEO of Crosby Hops.
I was already convinced, but my interview with Hop Research Council director Alicia Adler reminded of the scope of the government-funded hop research program. (The interview for Technical Quarterly will post soon at www.mbaa.com.) We talked about what sustainability means to the HRC.
“Ultimately, sustainability is the long-term viability and profitability of crop production in this particular region of the United States. The question becomes, ‘What does that entail?’ It involves understanding the impact of pest and disease pressure on plants and developing new tools to manage them given pesticide resistance and government regulations and preparing for severe climate events that are becoming more frequent, as well as the effects of changing market conditions and global demand for beer,” she said.
