You would not know that all the hops used to make Brewery Ommegang’s Hopstate NY were grown in New York if the brewery didn’t announce it prominently on the label. Justin Forsythe, Ommegang’s innovations manager, thinks that’s not altogether bad.
Hundreds of farmers outside of the Pacific Northwest have made a bet that brewers and drinkers want locally grown hops. At the beginning of the 21st century there were almost no commercial hop operations beyond Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It wasn’t until 2014 that Hop Growers of America began tabulating hop acreage planted in other states. It grew from 899 in 2014 to 1,277, then 2,098 in the following two years. In total, American farmers strung 53,213 acres for production in 2016.
Seasonal local-hop releases like Hopstate NY or Palm Reader from Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, Mich., generate street cred, although not always in the same way. The 2016 edition of Hopstate features Cascade, Chinook, and Nugget hops that taste and smell like they could have been grown in the Northwest, where farmers have established what those varieties should taste like. In contrast, there is no standard to compare to Zuper-Saazer, which adds a fruity, and perhaps distinctively Michigan, character to Palm Reader.
“The Ommegangs of the world, the Adirondacks of the world, they’ve been great,” says Corey Mosher at Mosher Farms, one of the growers Ommegang buys hops from. “They’ve been right out front helping New York hops farmers.” Even though New York created a Farm Brewery license in 2012 that provides financial incentives for breweries to use hops grown within the state, Mosher says few farm breweries have contracted to buy New York hops.
Esta historia es de la edición #116 (September 2016) de BeerAdvocate magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición #116 (September 2016) de BeerAdvocate magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Trainers Incorporate Beer-Making Equipment Into Brewery-Hosted Workouts
On a typical Saturday morning, Johnathan Wakefield can be found hoisting kegs out front of his brewery, J. Wakefield Brewing Co., in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood.
Mug Club 2.0
Craft Brewers Modify Loyalty Programs to Sow Deeper Relationships
Fruit Of The Vine
Now that fall’s here, it’s harvest time for a great many things. To zymurgical enthusiasts, that means grape season.
The Shaved Duck
Tucked away in an attractive brick neighborhood, just east of the second largest urban park in St. Louis, sits The Shaved Duck, one of the finest beer and barbecue joints west of the Mississippi.
John Segal Jr. The Hops Farmer
Although John Segal Jr. spent many childhood summers in Washington’s Yakima Valley and once brought a block of hops to show-and-tell, the third generation hops farmer never envisioned taking over the family business.
9 steps to beerdom
when david morgan first got into the craft business, it was as a retailer, and beer evangelism was a heavy lift. now, more than 15 years later, morgan is at the production end of the business, and the wind is at his back. singlespeed brewing, the cedar falls, iowa, nanobrewery morgan founded in 2012, is on the brink of a major expansion, as singlespeed exits its nano-sized beta version for a state of-the-art brewhouse opening late this year.
beau's all natural brewing company
after 32 years of working in the leather finishing industry, 55-year-old entrepreneur tim beauchesne was ready to make a bold career change.
higher prices, brighter futures?
the changing landscape of beer retail.
beer culture
as fresh hop beers multiply, so does experimentation
Birreria Volo
When your father is one of Canada’s most renowned craft beer publicans, opening your own beer bar is a high-pressure situation.