HOP QUERIES

* 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.

Read more

* 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.

Read more

* Introducing Erebus
* Random observation: Hops and health
* Hop profile: Mistral
* Recipe: Old World’s Mantra
* Additional reading

Welcome to Vol. 8, No. 7. In the current (Nov/Dec) issue of The New Brewer, I posed the question, “Remember Delta, Sylva, Ultra, Santium, Banner or Smaragd?” The point of asking the question in a story about newly named cultivars, or ones that may earn a name, is that it is not always obvious which will endure. They are going to keep coming, and sustainability is going to continue to be more important.

“If we don’t do this, somebody will,” said Ben Smith at B&D Farms, one of five farms that are partners in West Coast Hop Breeding. “Everybody out there breeding (hops) is doing some good. We are going to solve problems.”

On the flip side, right now I’m working on a story for Brewing Industry Guide about a variety that was released more than a century ago. It was a high impact hop, and in more than one way, before anybody talked about high impact hops. More after the story is published.

HOPSTEINER NAMES A ‘BOLD DISRUPTOR’

It might be just me, but as I noted at HopQueries.com on Oct. 31, it seems appropriate that Hopsteiner chose Halloween to announce that a cultivar previous known as HS16660 will be called Erebus, the primordial deity of darkness in Greek mythology. A press release states, she “embodies the essence of its chaotic origins, serving as a bold disruptor to the world of hops.”

Read more