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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) by Nerdfest on Wednesday August 03 2016, @01:31AM
I'd like to see some references for most English and Belgian beers using corn or sugar. I know Guinness was using HFCS for a while, but as far as I've seen, most of the beers from those countries are pure barley (or wheat, or occasionally rye). I'm assuming any that are are the very mass produced "beers", but even most of those would surprise me.
I'm not sure what you're on about saying good IPAs would be too cloying with pure barley. There are very few if any craft IPAs that are not pure barley malt.
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Wednesday August 03 2016, @08:52AM
When I worked at Whitbread, every single beer was produced from barley. The only variation was in the roasting; stouts were well roasted, ales were in the middle, and lagers were a very light roast. There was only one exception to this, which was Stella Artois, which used rolled maize (corn flakes!). Other additional ingredients may well have been used (I didn't see the recipes not being a brewer, just a tech), but the primary ingredients were all standard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @12:24AM
English references from a guy who actually goes through historical British brewing log books:
1880 - 1914 [blogspot.com]
Between 1914 and 1953 [blogspot.com]:
1920 - 1939 [blogspot.com]
Before 1960 [blogspot.com]
Here's [blogspot.com] an interview with a late 19th century brewer from Bass on the use of adjuncts.
This [blogspot.com] is from looking at late 19th century grists:
I need to wonder, why are you so obstinate on this topic?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @12:34AM
??????
I said you can't get good drinkability out of a high gravity IPA (aka IIPA) on malt alone. You need to dry it out and to do that, you need sugar. Try this as one example [byo.com], from a guy who is seen as the king of the IIPAs:
That's how the Belgians get drinkability out of their high gravity beers as well.