Newsletters

* Hop scientist reinstated
* Ask the farmers
* New Zealand harvest
* Case study: Mad Mole and hops
* Hop profile: Nectaron
* Wait, there’s more

Welcome to Vol. 8, No. 12. This wraps up eight seasons of Hop Queries. Thanks for hanging around, and putting up with head-scratching subject lines. The answer to the question at the top is that they are among the core hops at Mad Mole Brewing in North Carolina. More below.

HOP SCIENTIST BACK AT WORK

Two USDA-ARS employees involved with public hop research were among thousands of probationary employees who went back at work after the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a 45-day stay on their termination (see Hop Queries Vol. 8, No. 10). Francisco Gonzalez, a hop horticulturist, is one of four scientists central to the public hop research program. Brandon Sandoval is a technician assisting Gonzalez.

Since Gonzalez began building out the Hop Stress Physiology Lab at Washington State University’s Prosser worksite in 2022, USDA-ARS invested more than $1.6 million in the project and industry members contributed another $300,000. The laboratory that he built and his experimental hop yard would have sat empty had his job not be reinstated. The primary objectives for his research are “to understand hop responses to abiotic stress, mitigate crop damage from abiotic stress by developing improved production methods, and contribute to the identification of stress-tolerant cultivars and germplasm.”

That’s not to say that things are “back to normal” at research facilities in Oregon and Washington. Not all support staff has returned to work and what happens after a hiring freeze lifted is not clear. Also, the USDA has warned employees that a significant reduction in force is likely.

STAYING IN THE LUPULIN

Were I attending the Craft Brewers Conference later this month I would have no problem filling three days talking hops with vendors on the trade show floor, various hospitalities showcasing hops in beers, and at evening social events. But I would also make time for the May 1 panel discussion, called Staying in the Lupulin, including growers and distributors.

Dianne Gooding from Gooding Farms in Idaho, Eric Desmarais from CLS Farms in Washington, and Blake Crosby from Crosby Farms in Oregon will be joined by Tim Sattler and Lee Rottweiler from Yakima Quality Hops. It seems as if low visibility when it comes to hops supply/demand is even lower in April than it was in February. Staying in the Lupulin gives brewers and opportunity to talk directly with farmers and merchants.

Farmers may also be found in and around the Hop Growers of America booth (#3823). The HGA will have five cultivars (three waiting for names) to rub and smell, then taste in single-hop beers from Stone Brewing. The hops are Pink (Jackson Hop Farm), Tangier (Segal Ranch), HQG4 (Hop Quality Group), W1108-333 (USDA) and 2001006-084A (USDA).

MORE CUTS IN NEW ZEALAND

Clayton Hops has produced its first harvest report, which provides estimates for acreage and production in New Zealand. The government does not aggregate an official report, and Clayton acknowledges their estimates may differ plus or minus 15 percent from the numbers we would see were there a consolidated report.

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* Let’s hear it for the OG
* Who’s using all those hops?
* In search of the newest releases
* New inside the industry podcast
* Hop profile: Mount Hood
* Additional reading

Welcome to Vol. 8, No. 11. I’ve been thinking about how many hops a brewer, commercial or amateur, really needs in their portfolio. At this point, I am not ready to turn those thoughts into a random observation or something longer, but perhaps in the next few months. If you have an opinion, drop me a line at [email protected].

A SHOUTOUT FOR BB1

Yes, I have been known to ramble on about the importance of BB1, the wild hop from Manitoba that Ernest Salmon crossed with an English male in 1918 to produce Brewer’s Gold—and then how many popular varieties can be traced back to Brewer’s Gold. And Brewing Industry Guide even let me write about it.

I offer that as an explanation for why this beer can from Russian River Brewing is one of the few I will save. Take a close look at the megaphone.

LESSONS IN ALPHA

Alex Barth, then president of John I. Haas, showed this chart at the 2015 American Hop Convention. It tracks hop usage since 1971. One hundred years ago brewers used the equivalent of 12.6 grams of alpha acids per hectoliter (26.4 gallons, or 85% of a 31-gallon barrel). That had fallen to 9.1 grams in 1971 and continued to drop regularly until it was just over 4 grams in 2011. It ticked up to 4.5 grams in 2011, climbed in the years that followed, and will be about 4.7 grams this year.

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* What have I done for you lately?
* Hop research kneecapped
* More acreage reduction
* Multi-generation farm for sale
* Additional reading

Welcome to Vol. 8, No. 10. Some months writing this newsletter is not much fun. As expected, merchants told growers attending the American Hop Convention that another round of acreage reduction is necessary. Just as troubling, the blanket firing of Department of Agriculture employees makes “what’s next?” for the U.S. hop research program uncertain. This is, as they say, a developing story, one I am busy trying to make sense of for Brewing Industry Guide. So briefly (and pardon any typos) . . .

HELP ME MAKE THIS FUN

Before moving on to the dreary stuff, here is an invitation to submit a question, a topic you would like to see explored in depth, something you’ve read about elsewhere you think I’ve overlooked, whatever. The address is [email protected].

I’ll get any questions about dry hopping cider out of the way now. For starters, in this paper I learned: Dry-hopped cider sales have surpassed “normal” cider sales in Norway, and apples may contain thiol precursors.

MORE TO IT THAN LOSING ON SCIENTIST

On Feb. 13, the USDA fired an unknown number of employees, many of them scientists and most of them still on probation. They include Francisco Gonzalez, a hop horticulturist who was 42 days from finishing his three-year probation period, and Brandon Sandoval, a biological science technician who worked for Gonzalez. Gonzalez had one measuring tape in any empty lab when he started, and now it is fully stocked. He spent two years building a six-acre experimental hop yard customized for irrigation studies, which was to operate at its full capabilities for the first time 2025. It appears both the lab and yard will be idle this year.

Just as important going forward is the loss of support staff offering administrative, IT, and facility support services. Additionally, a federal hiring freeze leaves the remaining team of researchers — breeders John Henning in Oregon and Kayla Altendorf in Washington, along with pathologist David Gent in Oregon — unable to recruit key technicians and staff. This will impact how much of what they hoped to get accomplished this year turns out to be doable.

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* 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.

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