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from the nerding-out-on-homebrew-recipes dept.
NPR reports that the rise of craft breweries has helped to sustain hop growers:
Hop Growers are raising a glass to craft brewers. The demand for small-batch brews has helped growers boost their revenues, expand their operations, and, in some cases, save their farms. "Without the advent of craft brewing, a few large, corporate growers would be supplying all of the hops and local, family owned farms like ours would have gone bankrupt," says Diane Gooding, vice president of operations at Gooding Farms, a hop grower in Wilder, Idaho. "It's saved the industry."
[...] The thirst for craft beer has exploded. In 2015, the Colorado-based Brewers Association reported a 12.8 percent increase in craft-beer sales (compared to 0.2 percent for beer sales overall) and estimates the market at $22.3 billion—about one-quarter of the total U.S. beer market. Craft brews use more hops than traditional lagers produced by large brewing companies, which accounts for the surge in demand. Unlike big breweries, where hops are used to give beer its bitterness, craft breweries use "aroma" varieties of hops that have less acid (and impart less bitterness); each of the different varieties add a distinct flavor to the beer.
Craft beers contain up to five times more hops than traditional beers. The result, according to Jaki Brophy, communications director for the trade association Hop Growers of America, is "a huge impact" on commercial hop growers. In 2016, there are 53,213 acres of hops growing nationwide—the most acreage ever in production and an 18.5 percent increase over 2015. Almost all of the hops production is in Washington, Oregon and Idaho but 29 states are registered to grow the crop. Although there has been significant consolidation in the industry—the number of commercial growers decreased from 378 in 1964 and 90 in 1987 to just 44 in 2015, according to Hop Growers of America—new growers are coming online all the time.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by BigJ on Tuesday August 02 2016, @09:03PM
"Craft beers contain up to five times more hops than traditional beers."
I can attest to that as most craft brews I have tasted are big, bitter, hoppy messes. Nothing subtle there.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday August 02 2016, @09:18PM
I agree. I've never liked hoppy beers, and I'll go to brew pubs in Portland with something like 50 beers on tap, then struggle to find something that I like.
I've had people tell me it is something that you have to learn to like. However, I figure I drink less beer in my life I'll be better for it. I've also had similar conversations about coffee, which I dislike all variants of.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday August 02 2016, @10:06PM
But it's true. Drinking bitter beers radically changes your taste buds after a while. I would also argue that there is a lot more variety available in beer than in coffee or wine. Certainly there are plenty of non-bitter beers available, and moreso in recent years as IPA craze has died down.
Yes.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 02 2016, @11:22PM
You are handicapped by the fact that you live in the Northwest. Hops are a manhood issue up there like hot peppers are in other regions of the country, so it would be a lot harder to find beers with reasonable levels of hops where you are.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 02 2016, @10:00PM
You are free to enjoy the numerous styles of beer that are not IPAs that are being produced by craft brewers across the globe. Porter, Stout, Gose, Saison, Lager/Pilsner, Wheat, Hefeweisen, Octoberfest, Cream Ale, etc. all have subtle hop flavor and aroma and can be had anywhere the "big hop messes" are sold.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday August 02 2016, @10:30PM
I am really in love with the Gose style these days. It's certainly something I would recommend to non-beer drinkers.
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(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday August 03 2016, @12:01PM
E.g. http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/omnipollo-bianca-mango-lassi-gose/306802/51287/
After sharing dozens of modern "gose"s with beer-nerd friends, I finally did the honest thing, and brought back some Ritterguts from my travels. Their reactions were classic - to a man it was "wow, this is delicious, now I understand why you turned your nose up at all the craft muck".
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 03 2016, @12:56PM
How elitist of you. Quality has nothing to do with authenticity. If the Gose style had never emerged in Germany, and something like the modern interpretations emerged today, you wouldn't judge them by comparing to the original. You would judge them on their own merits.
I'm sure Americans can create something as good if not better than Ritterguts. And you'll never drink it because you turned your nose up.
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(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday August 05 2016, @06:27AM
And I will drink it. The reason I know so much about what's being created is because I drink so damn many of them. I've probably had more different beers this year than you have in your entire life.
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(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 05 2016, @11:09AM
Hah. I'd take that bet, but I'm too lazy to count all of them.
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(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday August 02 2016, @10:02PM
There are zillions of non-hoppy brews. That sentence was obviously talking about IPAs. A little education on beer styles [beeradvocate.com] and you can avoid buying stuff that is too bitter for your tastes.
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Tuesday August 02 2016, @10:31PM
That's a question of style, not craft vs non-craft. If you buy a brown ale rather than an IPA, you'll get a much less hoppy beer. A good brewpub should have a wide variety of non-hoppy styles, and probably a bartender that can educate you. Look for lower IBUs, darker styles rather than paler styles, and you'll probably get something you like better.
And I agree with you that the hop-heads (brewers who are looking to cram in the maximum amount of bitterness they can) are thoroughly wrong about what makes a great beer, but that's entirely a matter of preference.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 03 2016, @02:19PM
Except craft beer makers are under the same economic restraints as the large manufacturers- make a profit with the materials available. Now there are several methods to approach this, and one of them is to cast your lot with the popular styles of the time, which at the moment is very hoppy beers.
Several of my favorite beers have been discontinued as brewmasters state emphatically they must follow trends for economic reasons, and that trend is towards hoppy messes.
Try finding a copper ale in all 50 states and you'll understand the problem.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday August 03 2016, @03:42PM
I could just have a different impression because I have a couple of absolutely fantastic breweries within a reasonable distance, and both of them have plenty of great non-hoppy varieties. Sure, they have IPAs and some super-hopped varieties, but there's also a good selection of red ales, brown ales, stouts, porters, weissbier, and so forth. Their brewmasters are both as experimental with non-hoppy beers as they are with the super-hoppy beers.
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