FYI from Hops Direct:
“Globally, hop production is likely to be down 8.9% this year. Climate is the largest contributing factor, something completely out of anyone’s control. The best advice for craft brewers from a growers perspective is to plan ahead for the hops you will need and organize contracts as early as possible.”
Heard the German crop was pretty low this year.
Scary! Guess we will have to get by on malty session beers till this crisis is averted. Thank the gods I still have four pounds of 2012 in the freezer
Yikes, that’s only like 2 batches of IPA. Better stock up soon!
No worries. In an emergency I can drink 6b. Four pounds out to make about about a year’s worth.
I don’t think there’s any reason to start hoarding unless you use lots of European hops. Like hopfenundmalz said, the German crop was the worst in 50 years (so I’ve seen). Most of the reports from the US have been pretty good in that the folks with contracts will pretty much be taken care of. What remains will most likely be a little more expensive than the last couple of years. Again, he mentioned that ‘global’ production was down so I’d figure that some will be a little hard to find. Hops Away!
Good thing I picked up all the hops I plan to need for next year. I don’t need a lot but I picked up a bunch of Styrian variants and French hops on the cheap from Farmhouse Brewing Supply.
The spring and early summer were cold and wet, which slowed the growth of the bines. The mid summer it turned extremely hot for Germany, 100F, and was very dry. Not so good for the varieties they grow there.
With a little Citra and Mosaic on the way, the Hops Report from my freezer is looking good. 8)
It must be increasingly stressful for commercial brewers to nail down hops for the year with all the new buyers out there. I bet a bunch of newer breweries might have a costly learning curve on hop acquisition.
So with contracts for hops, do you commit to buying a certain amount of a variety and pay up front? How can the farmer guarantee delivery?
As I understand it you have a contract to buy X amount at Y price over so many years. The farmers have clauses that take care of bad years. In the big shortage year, Saaz was only delivered at something like 2/3 the contracted amount. If anyone knows better, correct me.
Many of the start ups have recipes using the high demand hops, only to find they need to get a contract for delivery a couple of years from when they open. There is the spot market for the short term, but that can be expensive, unless there is a glut.
Yes I was in outages to contract early for next growing season.