Posted on 12/06/2005 10:32:02 AM PST by add925
A trade organization that represents hop growers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho is downsizing.
Hop Growers of America will close its Yakima, Wash., office and switch from full-time salaried staff to contract employees utilizing a virtual office after Jan. 1.
The HGA’s website and many of its activities will continue, but its newsletter will be discontinued. Board membership will be reduced and the number of meetings cut back.
Industry consolidation has been kicked around for several years, in the wake of continuing low hop prices driven by world oversupply, said Doug MacKinnon, HGA manager in Yakima. The HGA cutbacks will save more than $150,000 a year, a major part of the association’s budget, MacKinnon said.
The cutbacks are being driven, in large part, by a reduction in funding from the Washington Hop Commission. The hop industry has undergone major acreage reduction in recent years and the number of growers is shrinking, said Ann George, administrator of the Washington Hop Commission in Moxee.
(Excerpt) Read more at capitalpress.info ...
Looks like Europe has won the Hops war....the US used to have a thriving hops (brewing ingredient) industry. Something to think about next time you drink your favorite brew.
Pacific NW was main growing region....now in major decline. Notice how the local growers association appears to blame the US government and not the foreign competition.
Methinks it "ain't" good to outsource our beer! Think I'm gonna ask my favorite microbrewery where they get their hops.
Yep, I'll be on the phone with Red Hook today...
Better stock up.
What are hops, really, and how do you grow them?
I started growing hops in my back yard a few years ago. Got my first decent crop this year - presently vacuum-sealed in the freezer awaiting a soon-to-be-brewed brown ale. They really do smell wonderful.
No one was home at the Redhook Brewery, but I got through to Pyramid and a rep told me that 95% of their hops are grown locally (in the Yakima valley) and 5% are imported from Europe.
Be reeeel curious to find out where they get them. American beer should = American ingredients
It's a vine type plant that grows on poles & wires. They would make a trellis system so it could grow up about 20 ft. The flower's used by brewers. Use to see it growing all over Eastern Washington when I was a kid.
What type and what region are you in the US? Was reading an article that upstate/western NY used to supply 80% of the US market prior to prohibition.
I brew with both NW and European hops, depending on the style of beer I'm brewing. Mostly, I use domestic, though.
Notice any difference? Not sure the difference between Aroma & Alpha.
Also heard of a newer US type thats called Liberty, named soon after the Gulf War.
I can't really tell the difference between Kent Goldings and Yakima Goldings. But I haven't really tried, either.
I'm in Southern New Hampshire, and the rhizomes I started with were Hallertau and (I think) Willmette.
I am very interested to get started brewing beer. Do you know of a helpful website for a complete no nothing drunk.
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition, by Charles Papzian
Well worth the price, and if you aren't quite convinced you want to brew yet, you'll probably be itching to start after reading it.
The thing most people don't realize is that with a moderate amount of effort, you can make truly excellent beer!
They're just cutting out the deadwood in the bureaucracy. Nothing to worry about.
" Methinks it "ain't" good to outsource our beer! Think I'm gonna ask my favorite microbrewery where they get their hops."
My local brewery (Lefthand Brewery, Longmont, Colorado) has started growing their hops right behind the brewery. God bless em'.
There are the latest Samuel Adams commercials, touting how the founder goes over to Germany to personally select the hops...
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