* US harvest report
* Worldwide production
* On the research front
* Funding future varieties
* Additional reading
Welcome to Vol. 9, No. 8. I love this paragraph in The New Brewer (more about the current issue at the end): “The hops, however, were unfazed by the economics. Nourished by abundant summer sunshine inherent to long summer days in a growing season largely absent from extreme heat events or pest pressure, the Pacific Northwest boasted a crop estimated by USDA-NASS at 82 million pounds — a crop with distinctly high oil content and exceptional aromatic quality.”
Economics are important. The Brewers Association anticipates that craft beer sales in 2025 will be down 5 percent, or maybe a bit more, when the final numbers are toted up. That’s not good for hop growers. Based on the global alpha production in 2025, a theoretical brewing potential of 2.1 billion hectoliters beer can be derived (without even dipping into existing inventory). Estimates suggest 2025 production was less than 1.9 billion hectoliters in 2024. That imbalance also is not good for hop growers.
But the paragraph at the top is a reminder hops are going to be hops; that they’ll stretch to the sky when they can and produce cones full of the compounds that help make beer beer.
US CONTINUES TO WORK OFF INVENTORY
Farmers in the Northwest reduced acreage 7% in 2025 and harvested 5% percent fewer hops, according to the USDA National Hop Report. Average yield per acre was the highest since 2011, when higher yielding hops appreciated more for their alpha made up a larger percentage of acres planted. The 2025 value of production was $447 million, up slightly from 2024, but significantly less than $662 million in 2021. That shouldn’t be a surprise, given that acreage has shrunk 31% since 2021 and production 28%.
Perhaps as important, in September the USDA reported that the inventory of hops held by growers, dealers and brewers was 116 million pounds, down 15 percent from the previous year. That’s the largest contraction in 15 years and suggests the market is getting closer to being in balance. Still, it is a significant amount, and almost 40 percent higher than it was through much of the teens.
Overall production in the Northwest states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington came in a little higher than the August estimate because of the improved yields. Still, the 83.1 million pounds (37,723 metric tons) harvested were fewest since 2015 (78.8 million pounds). Breweries classified as craft (BA definition) produced 24.3 million barrels in 2016, when most of those hops were to be used. Estimated production in 2025 is less than 23 million barrels, and 2026 obviously is unknown.
Make of all those numbers what you will. A few more of note:
– As expected because acreage increased, Citra production grew 15 per cent, to 12.5 million pounds (5,666 metric tons), comparable to Saaz production (5,207 mt) in the Czech Republic. That’s 32 percent less Citra than farmers harvested in 2021.
– Growers harvested more CTZ (three varieties considered as one — see last month’s Queries if that sounds confusing) than Citra, producing 13.4 million pounds (6,091 mt), 6 percent less than 2024. For sake of comparison, German farmers harvested 22,165 mt of their primary alpha hop, Herkules.
– Amarillo production increased 8%, and Mosaic 3%. Simcoe decreased less than 1 percent, as did Centennial.
– Cascade and Chinook are something of a wild card. In some cases, the USDA does not provide acreage or production numbers to avoid disclosing data for individual operations. That was the case this year for several varieties in Idaho, including Cascade and Chinook. For those two, USDA reported acres strung for harvest but not those harvested. Production was not zero. Before harvest began, Hopsteiner estimated a 14% decline for Cascade and 1% increase for Chinook.
– In the first year since Krush (previously HBC 586) was named, and production numbers became available, farmers harvested 749,000 pounds. That is a significant amount. Oregon farmers did not produce that much Strata, a well established brand. The comparison is not perfect, because Indie Hops is still working through excess inventory and expects to sell more Strata in 2026 that farmers harvested in 2025.
The Krush launch was nonetheless more conservative than the approach Hop Breeding Company partners John I. Haas and Yakima Chief Ranches took with Sabro in 2019, a year after giving her a name. Farmers harvested 1.2 million pounds in 2019, 2.2 million in 2020, and 2.8 million in 2021 before the great contraction began in 2022. This year they produced 496,700.
The National Hop Report can be found here.
GERMAN PRODUCTION DOWN, CZECH UP
Hop production Germany was higher than forecast in August, but still down 7.2% to 43,141 metric tons. Tradition and Perle shrunk even more, 21% and 15% respectively, reflecting lower demand and excess inventory. The overall quality of the crop was average to superior.
A couple of other items of interest: the number of operating farms dipped to 965 after 44 ceased operations in 2025, and only 10 varieties account for 92% of volume (Herkules alone is 51%). In the US, 10 varieties account for 72% of production.
In the Czech Republic, production increased 6.4% to 6,909 metric tons as a result of higher yields. Although the Hop Research Institute continues to promote new varieties, Saaz still accounts for 75% of production. In 2025, average alpha acids for Saaz were 3.3%, compared to 2.6% and 2.8% in the previous two years.
In Slovenia, production grew 4.5% to 2,345 tons, while in Poland it decreased 6.2% to 2,770 tons.
RESEARCH: HOPS & YEAST, MOUTHFEEL
BarthHaas announced that two groups of young scientists will receive €10,000 each toward hop related research projects. The winners are a group from the Conicet research unit at the National University of Comahue in Argentina led by Dr. Julieta Burini and a team from the Chair of Brewing and Beverage Technology at the Technical University of Munich (BGT TUM) led by Christoph Neugrodda.
Burini and her colleagues from Argentina and Germany intend to examine the effect of hops on cell multiplication in yeast. Previous experiments have already shown that brewing yeast displays increased cell multiplication in the presence of hops. The object of the new research is to establish which hop compounds have this effect and to what extent hops can be responsible for more efficient production of starter yeast in the food industry.
Christoph Neugrodda’s project focuses on the question of how hop products
— especially protein- and polyphenol-rich fractions — can improve the sensory richness and the mouthfeel of alcohol-free beers. Using soft tribology, the interactions between tongue and palate are simulated in order to measure the friction, and thus the mouthfeel, in objective terms. The central hypothesis is that bitter compounds, polyphenols, and proteins substantially improve the tribological profile and thus the perception of mouthfeel.
Earlier this year, I wrote about a project Katarzyna Wolinska-Kennard, an R&D chemist who works for BarthHaas UK, has headed to create a fit-for-purpose mouthfeel lexicon. This will be an important tool for brewers of beers with alcohol as well as NAs. “Instrumental techniques alone cannot comprehensively quantify mouthfeel,” she said. “A full understanding requires an integrated approach combining physical analysis with structured sensory evaluation and tools like a fit-for-purpose lexicon.”
THORA MAY HELP FUND NEW VARIETIES
Crosby Hops will donate $1 for every pound of Crop Year 2026 Estate Grown Thora contracted through Aug. 31, 2026 to the Hop Quality Group USDA-ARS partnership. Thora is the first public hop variety resulting from a collaboration 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.
Crosby is a grower, processor and merchant, and was one of the farms that trialed HQG2015034-023/HQG4 before she had a name.
“Thora shows what can be achieved through collaboration, and we are grateful for the HQG and USDA teams who helped move this variety from concept to reality,” said Blake Crosby, CEO of Crosby Hops. “We see tremendous potential for Thora on our farm and in the beers our partner breweries create. Our donation is a way to give back and ensure this partnership continues to drive meaningful innovation for the entire industry.”
GOOD READING
The New Brewer isn’t a publication you’ll find on a newsstand (if you can find a newsstand). It is the journal of the Brewers Association and serves its members. So sometimes you’ll come across it in a brewery taproom. The Raw Materials Issue (Nov/Dec) is rich with hop stories. As well as harvest reports, the options include:
– “Entrenched in Craft: The Influence of Neomexicanus Hops”
– “Brewing with Huell Classic” (a new variety from German)
– “6 Women Changing the Future of Hops”
I wrote the last one, and it is actually six stories, each of which probably deserved two or three times as many words.