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Author Topic: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage  (Read 5813 times)

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #30 on: July 05, 2014, 09:26:58 am »
But there will be a new bubble. Im hoping its farmhouse

Offline Kinetic

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #31 on: July 05, 2014, 11:34:24 am »
HopUnion predicts 5 year hop contracts will be the norm soon.  I don't think fruity/citrus hop bomb beers will fall out of style anytime soon. 

Whatever is or isn't in style is of no consequence to me, because I can brew anything that floats my boat.  So can you.  We have nothing to worry about. 

Offline duboman

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #32 on: July 05, 2014, 11:52:51 am »

But there will be a new bubble. Im hoping its farmhouse
that would be awesome, but that's my point, if another variety becomes rapidly popular the same issue will cycle through with demand stripping supply and the breweries encounter the same problem they currently have
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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #33 on: July 05, 2014, 06:35:01 pm »
A new hop yard requires three growing seasons before it starts provide a return on investment.  A Saison bubble would more than likey result in a hop farmers being stuck with hops that they cannot sell.  Saison is not a hop-intensive style of beer. 

I planted a new hop yard last fall.  I did not plant the yard because I love growing hops.  Growing and processing hops by hand is a huge amount of work (which is why I dug up my old hills over a decade ago).  I planted the yard in an attempt to avoid having shortages affect my ability to brew.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2014, 04:31:29 am by S. cerevisiae »

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #34 on: July 05, 2014, 07:16:43 pm »
A new hop yard requires three growing seasons before it starts provide a return on investment.  A Saison bubble would more that likey result in a hop farmers being stuck with hops that they cannot sell.  Saison is not a hop-intensive style of beer. 

I planted a new hop yard last fall.  I did not plant the yard because I love growing hops.  Growing and processing hops by hand is a huge amount of work (which is why I dug up my old hills over a decade ago).  I planted the yard in an attempt to avoid having shortages affect my ability to brew.
One fun fact about the hops grown in the Yakima Valley is that the growers can get 50% to 80% full production in the first year. Soil, sun, drip irrigation all are positives. Source was a talk that Matt Brynildson gave at the NHC in 2011, San Diego.
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Offline duboman

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #35 on: July 05, 2014, 07:25:42 pm »

A new hop yard requires three growing seasons before it starts provide a return on investment.  A Saison bubble would more that likey result in a hop farmers being stuck with hops that they cannot sell.  Saison is not a hop-intensive style of beer. 

I planted a new hop yard last fall.  I did not plant the yard because I love growing hops.  Growing and processing hops by hand is a huge amount of work (which is why I dug up my old hills over a decade ago).  I planted the yard in an attempt to avoid having shortages affect my ability to brew.
the other thing I'm seeing is all Bret beers as well as an interest in sours and barrel aged, all on the increase and all lower in hop usage.
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Offline reverseapachemaster

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #36 on: July 07, 2014, 09:55:25 am »
Aren't we supposed to have a massive shortage every year? I know there is a shortage on the most popular varieties (including Cascade) due to all the new IPAs coming on the market using the same handful of varieties but there doesn't seem to be a shortage of hops across the board. The challenge for pro brewers will be making viable products out of something other than citra/amarillo/simcoe mixes when the market gets too tight. Several of the most popular varieties are even unavailable now on the spot market shortly after the fall. That's bad for homebrewers because we are almost always getting the leftovers from the spot market.
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Offline beerstache

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #37 on: July 07, 2014, 03:34:50 pm »
Simple solution:  Grow your own if you can!  You can even get them tested for Alpha acid content nowadays.
I've won many competitions using homegrown hops.

Offline davidw

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #38 on: July 08, 2014, 12:31:55 pm »
Something tells me, there will still be hoppy beer . . . .
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Offline majorvices

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #39 on: July 09, 2014, 07:00:26 pm »
So, from a guy who has a hop contract I can tell you that right now and next year there look to be plenty of some hops: Centennial for instance. It's amazing how many centennials are still on the market even now. In fact, there are left over centennials all the way back to 2011. The scary shortages are things like magnum. We were not able to increase our contract next year for magnum. Or Crystal (which really suck because I love that hop.)

But apparently there are enough centennials going around so hoppy centennial beers are here to stay for a while.

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Craft beer boom causing hops shortage
« Reply #40 on: July 10, 2014, 07:46:08 pm »
There is plenty of German Magnum. American Magnum is harder to get by.


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