Mosaic Moves to Second and Other Hoppy Notes
Note: post has been updated below.
The annual report from the Hop Growers of America is out. The trade organization releases data throughout the year, but this is the final, official year-end report for the preceding year. Given how central hops are in American brewing, it’s worth studying. After fairly dramatic changes in the first five years of the past decade, the past few years have been more stable. That means that while we’re seeing a lot of interesting new stuff happen in terms of hop products and new varieties, at a macro level, things are pretty stable.
The number of acres grew 3.8% last year to a total of over 60,000 in the US. In the past five years growth has been a steady but relatively modest 12.7% since 2017. The previous five years, which we might call the dawn of the IPA age, saw growth of 71.3%. All of which is to say that we’re not longer seeing the kind of mind-boggling changes in the hop industry we saw in the early teens. Still, a few gems are worth highlighting.
Popular Favorites
You probably won’t be surprised by the list of most popular hop varieties. With just a couple slight shifts, it’s the same list we had in 2020. Citra remained in first and constituted a whopping 20% of all acreage. Mosaic moved into the second position, swapping places with CTZ, and Cascade swapped with Simcoe to take fourth place (five years ago it was the top hop). Here are your top ten: Citra, Mosaic, CTZ, Cascade, Simcoe, Centennial, Pahto, Amarillo, Chinook, El Dorado. (Raise your hand if you knew Pahto was on the list.)
The regions have somewhat different climates, and as such grow slightly different hops. All three major hip-growing states are deep into Citra and Mosaic, but after that it gets interesting. I was pleased to see Idaho is the state growing Idaho 7—much like the Willamette Valley is where you find the Willamettes. I didn’t realize Idaho was so rich in El Dorado, either—though Washington actually grows more acres. Strata has become the Oregon hop, both in the fields (it’s only grown in Oregon) and in our IPAs around here. Finally, I was surprised that Centennial only appeared on the Washington list, since it’s the sixth-most popular hop in the US. That goes to show how big Washington is as a region. Here’s the first of today’s tables, and I’ve bolded the varieties that only appear on one state’s list.
Planted Acreage
Once again, the gap between Oregon, the third-largest hop-growing state, and Idaho, the second, widened. Washington grows 73% of American hops, and Idaho is up to 16%. Poor Oregon is down to 11%. But wait—this is one of those “damn lies and statistics” moments. Don’t cry for Oregon: acreage is up in the state 41% over the past decade. The Beaver State now has 7,395 acres under cultivation, which would make it the fourth-largest country in world production. Hop acreage just hasn’t grown as fast here as it has in Washington and Idaho (see table below).
Unfortunately, my dream of a national hop crop is in serious jeopardy. All other states combined account for just 2.2% of the country’s acreage, and that’s down a third from 2020. There were some big reversals, too. Ohio pulled 805 of their 870 acres out of the ground, and Colorado pulled out all but 10 acres of their 147. Montana was the only state outside the Pacific Northwest to increase their acreage. Suddenly it’s hard to get too worked up about Oregon’s declining share.
Finally, the report includes hops grown elsewhere in the world, and it’s fascinating. Three countries grow 80% of the world’s hops—the US, Germany, and Czechia. Okay, maybe not super shocking. But when we think of famous beer-brewing regions, our minds turn to places like the UK, Belgium, and Austria. England in particular is one of the world’s most famous hop-growing regions, and I’d forgive you for thinking they’re a major producer. They’re not:
England: 1,656 acres (1% of the world’s hop acres).
Austria: 638 acres (.4%).
Belgium: 450 acres (.3%).
Meanwhile, China and Poland are punching quite a bit above their weight—at least in terms of their beery reputations. As hops move ever more to the center of beer production, we may see a lot more movement in coming years. I’ll leave you with the top countries today—I’m curious to see what this list will look like in a decade.
Update (10 am). Some good comments below. Hops authority Stan Hieronymus says the Colorado stats are wrong. I’ve reposted the numbers in the report. Also, there is a margin of error on hop varieties, because small plantings are swept up in the catch-all “other varieties” line item. Apparently one farm has some Strata planted in Washington. Good to know!