The Changing of the Hops

The Changing of the Hops. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Washington State is the top hop producing area in the U.S. Hops but a change in the beer industry is helping hop producers according to the Washington Hop Commission’s Ann George.

GEORGE: We’ve really had some dramatic shifts in the industry thanks to the growth of the craft industry and the willingness of that sector to step in and create more close relationships with their raw material suppliers.

Years ago the alpha hop was the king with most of the major breweries using it but since the craft industry has boomed that trend is shifting.

GEORGE: The blended statistics from like 25 years ago, the average hopping ratio was about .25 pounds of hops for a 31 gallon barrel of beer. Over the last 25 years that had continued to erode down to about .2 pounds and on down.

Aroma varieties are what makes the craft industry so unique and George says that’s where the shift has been.

GEORGE: Now that the craft industry is bumping up around 10% of the volume here in the U.S. it’s starting to have a major impact on particularly hops because they use much more hops. The more traditional, industrial type breweries, they’re at about .1 pound or maybe slightly above .1pound. The latest statistic for the craft sector they actually exceeded 1 pound average hopping ratio per barrel.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.