Blog Posts

LIFE, LIBERTY & THE PURSUIT OF HOPPINESS

by

Gary Dean

What are the most popular hops in the U.S.?

In order to answer this question, I looked at statistics for hop plantings for last year, 2022. I found that the top five hops that were strung in the U.S. were the following:

(1) Citra 12,121 acres

(2) Mosaic 6,513 acres

(3) Cascade 5,075 acres

(4) Simcoe 4,526 acres

(5) CTZ 4,079 acres

Hops with the most increasing acreage from 2021 to 2022:

(1) Strata up 30%

(2) Eureka up 27%

(3) Chinook up almost 16%

(4) Cashmere up 12.4%

(5) Centennial up 9%

All of this information was gathered by Beer Maverick from the USDA 2022 Hop Planting Report.

In what forms are hops used to brew beer?

Hop Pellets – This is by far the most common form of hop in use for brewing today. They are made by shredding dry whole hops and compressing them into pellets.

Whole Cone Hops – These are hops that are dried and then pressed into bales for use in brewing.

Fresh (Wet) Hops – These are hops fresh from the bine that have not been dried or processed. For best results they should be used within 36 hours of their harvest. Because of this, they are only available at harvest time, in late summer or the fall. Brewers typically need to use five to six times more of these hops, by weight, as they have a much higher water content than dried hops.

Frozen Fresh (Wet) Hops – These are fresh hops that are flash frozen to seal in the moisture and aroma. Yakima Chief Hops provides more information on their product.

Other hop products include CO2 Hop Extract, Isomerized Hop Extract, Lupulin Powder and Cryo Hops, and Aroma Oil Extracts. A good description of these can be found here.

What are the aroma characteristics of various hops?

The aroma characteristics of the five most popular hops are shown below:

Citra – Fruity, Citrus, Tropical Fruit

Mosaic – Citrus, Floral

Cascade – Fruity, Citrus, Floral

Simcoe – Citrus, Tobacco/Earthy, Pine

CTZ – Citrus, Floral, Spicy, Herbal

The aroma Characteristics of other U.S. hops can be found here.

What were the top 5 hop producing states in 2022?

Statistics are based on the Hop Growers of America 2022 Statistical Report which shows a total of 61,177 acres of hops grown in the U.S. for 2022.

(1) Washington – 42,762 acres or 69.9% of U.S. hops

(2) Idaho – 9,267 acres or 15.1% of U.S. hops

(3) Oregon – 7,756 acres or 12.7% of U.S. hops

(4) Michigan – 380 acres or .6% of U.S. hops

(5) New York – 300 acres or .5% of U. S. hops

What hop farms are located in Indiana?

Cone Keepers Hop Yard, De Motte

Crazy Horse Hops LLC, Knightstown

Honey Creek Hops, Greenwood

Howe Farms, Crown Point

Indy High Bines, Indianapolis

Spring Hill Hops, Greensburg

White River Hops Farm, Jasper

What does DDH or Double Dry Hopped mean?

Double dry hopping originally referred to the addition of dry hops in the brewing process in two separate stages during the later stages of fermentation.  This definition has since been corrupted to also mean a one stage addition of double the hop quantity.

Who is Bert Grant, and why should you know?

Bert’s accomplishments include the following:

Opened first brewpub in the U.S., since prohibition, in 1982.

Built the first hop pelletizing machine in the United States.

Patented the “isomerized” hop pellet.

Introduced the Cascade hop, one of the most prominent and widely used hops in craft brews, to breweries worldwide.

Brewed the first craft IPA in the U.S. in 1983. (Also brewed the first Scottish Ale and Russian Imperial Stout in the U.S. in his first year of operation in 1982.)

Helped to develop the first Fresh Hop Ale in 1997. (The hops he used for brewing were picked less than two hours before going into the kettle.)

He’s been called the “Dean of America’s Craft Brewers” and the Wall Street Journal called him “The Patriarch of the Micro Movement.”

More information can be found on Bert here, here and here as well as in his book, The Ale Master.

Factoids, or in this case, Hoptoids

Hops grow on bines, not vines!

The hop plant (humulus lupulus) has separate male and female plants. Only the female plant produces the cones used in brewing.

IBU stands for International Bitterness Unit, and it is used to measure the bitterness of a beer.

Anchor Brewing uses only whole cone hops in their brewing process.

Bert Grant carried a vial of hop oil with him, when traveling, to add taste to mega brewed beers that were lacking in flavor!

In 1519 King Henry VIII of England was quoted as saying, “Hops are a wicked and pernicious weed.”

The Hop Capital of the U.S. is in the Yakima Valley in the Eastern part of Washington State, although it originally began in the Puyallup Valley in Western Washington.

Falconer’s Flight^® Hop Pellets are an exclusive proprietary hop blend created to honor and support the legacy of brewing legend, Glen Hay Falconer. Proceeds from the sale of these pellets go to support the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation which provides brewing education scholarships. They have awarded 52 brewing scholarships since 2004!

The Alpha King Challenge began in 1999. Its purpose is to crown the most well-balanced and drinkable beers with 60 IBUs or more each year. The name of the event is inspired by Three Floyds Brewing, from Munster, and their famous Alpha King Pale Ale. The two founders of the award, hop and beer veterans, named it after Alpha King since they felt that it was the perfect example (strong, hoppy and delicious) that they were looking for in the competition. The list of all winners of the competition can be found here. (3 Floyds Brewing has been named the Best Brewery in the World in five different years based on reviews by individuals on the RateBeer website!)