[hopfenundmalz]

A friend and I are planning on brewing professionally and we have checked on hop availability, most of the popular varieties are already on contract at least 2 years out. Sure we could buy from a smaller supplier but pay out the wazoo for them.

or, you know, don't use the most popular varieties. just sayin.

Sometimes you have to.  I've been hired by a new brewery to help them develop their recipes.  They own an organic hop farm and plan to make all organic beer.  Their business plan includes an imperial pale ale, IPA, and IIPA.  Now, it's hard enough to differentiate those styles already, but the only hops they plan to use are the ones they grow.  OK, but that means Chinook, Magnum, and Fuggle only!  I keep telling them they need to source some other hops or the beers won't really be recognizable as what they intend them to be.

Worthy brewing in Bend makes a very nice IPA only using Oregon grown hops. Do you know that one?

[pinnah]

  Poor Denny. I was thinking the same thing Mort...Denny, here make us a good recipe with Magnum and Fuggles please. 
At least they have some Chinook.

Sounds like they need to get some more varieties planted if they want to make beer from all their own hops.

I saw that CTZ is now available in organic...all you need is some Mt. Hood and you are good to go.

Agreed on craft brewers needing to expand into lesser known varieties.  The Simcoe Citra Amarillo crowd is getting large and demanding. I see a trend to sourcing local hops. Seems like quite a few regions are popping fop farms. 

[denny]

That does seem a little restrictive. but there has got to be lots of other varieties they could grow. and I gotta say, I feel for you there denny. I disagree with you on the value of Fuggles but I still don't think I can imagine a Fuggles centered IIPA.

I do see what you mean by difficult to differentiate too. isn't an Imperial Pale Ale just an IPA? Have you tried suggesting some other styles? seems like those hops would be good in kinda hopped up americanized versions of british styles (Imperial ESB?)

They used to grow Cascade, but they got wiped out by disease.  Anything else would take at least a couple years to get a decent crop.  They may source other hops, but they're reluctant to do that and the organic varieties they can get are really limited.  I've tried to talk to them about brewing other things, but it seems their business plan is centered on these styles.  At this point, all I can do is help them make the best beer they can make with the limitations in place.

[denny]

Worthy brewing in Bend makes a very nice IPA only using Oregon grown hops. Do you know that one?

Nope, I don't.  Are they organic hops?  The business plan for this brewery centers on high gravity, organic and estate grown as much as possible.  Apparently, they have a distribution deal with a major grocery chain if they do that.  They've determined (somehow) that to make money they need to hit a particular price  point and can only do that with high gravity beers.

[HoosierBrew]

Yeah that's a very limited hop selection for 3 fairly similar styles. Throw out the crappy Fuggles and you're left with 2.   

[hopfenundmalz]

Worthy brewing in Bend makes a very nice IPA only using Oregon grown hops. Do you know that one?

Nope, I don't.  Are they organic hops?  The business plan for this brewery centers on high gravity, organic and estate grown as much as possible.  Apparently, they have a distribution deal with a major grocery chain if they do that.  They've determined (somehow) that to make money they need to hit a particular price  point and can only do that with high gravity beers.

It was probably not organic, but showed what nice IPA can be made with the public domain hops available in Oregon. No Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo, Mosaic, etc on the label.

http://www.worthybrewing.com/worthy-ipa.html

[morticaixavier]

Worthy brewing in Bend makes a very nice IPA only using Oregon grown hops. Do you know that one?

Nope, I don't.  Are they organic hops?  The business plan for this brewery centers on high gravity, organic and estate grown as much as possible.  Apparently, they have a distribution deal with a major grocery chain if they do that.  They've determined (somehow) that to make money they need to hit a particular price  point and can only do that with high gravity beers.

I agree that the organic hop selection is not what the conventional selection is but there is a good variety available even if you restrict your self to the pacific northwest (as long as you include northern cali and idaho in that region) The new american varieties aren't as available although simcoe did just recently appear. But liberty, sterling, bravo, magnum...

New zealand on the other had has tons of organic options and oregon is sort of the pacific rim right?

check out 7 bridges if you haven't already. they have a decent selection of american grown organic hops.

[chumley]

Am I the only one here who finds the thought of Denny developing recipes using Fuggles to be hilarious? 

[hopfenundmalz]

Am I the only one here who finds the thought of Denny developing recipes using Fuggles to be hilarious? 

Not at all!!!

[BrewingRover]

Am I the only one here who finds the thought of Denny developing recipes using Fuggles to be hilarious? 

He must have agreed to it before they told him what varieties they had 

[reverseapachemaster]

That's a tough project. It's a nice idea what they are trying to do but it sounds like they don't have a good handle on those styles to think those three varieties will fit the bill.

Would they be open to making an English-style barleywine instead of one of the pale ale variants? That could easily be done with the options available to you.

[denny]

Am I the only one here who finds the thought of Denny developing recipes using Fuggles to be hilarious? 

I find it both hilarious and disturbing.  I told the guy my thoughts on Fuggles, but I also said I'd help him make the best beer he could with what he has to use.  God have mercy on my soul....

[hopfenundmalz]

Am I the only one here who finds the thought of Denny developing recipes using Fuggles to be hilarious? 

I find it both hilarious and disturbing.  I told the guy my thoughts on Fuggles, but I also said I'd help him make the best beer he could with what he has to use.  God have mercy on my soul....

Never say never. In your new recipe book, the La Cumbre Elevated IPA has Nelson as a dry hop. I normally loath Nelson, but I loved that beer in NM.

[denny]

Am I the only one here who finds the thought of Denny developing recipes using Fuggles to be hilarious? 

I find it both hilarious and disturbing.  I told the guy my thoughts on Fuggles, but I also said I'd help him make the best beer he could with what he has to use.  God have mercy on my soul....

Never say never. In your new recipe book, the La Cumbre Elevated IPA has Nelson as a dry hop. I normally loath Nelson, but I loved that beer in NM.

That's pretty much my attitude, Jeff.  Make the best of it because that's what they're paying me to do!

[Thirsty_Monk]

I got my hop contract for 2014 crop.
I will also buy some local hops.