I generally purchase hops through More Beer or NB. I’m curious if there is a smaller or boutique vendor you use that you believe sells a higher quality product.
My suggestion is to purchase as close to the grower as possible. The difference is noticeable. Hops Direct and Freshops are basically hop brokers who also grow a portion of what they sell. There are smaller players like YVH and Northwest Hops. Plus, many boutique growers.
I like Yakima Valley hops a lot. They are about as far away from you as one could possibly be, so if you do order from them, maybe opt for the faster shipping.
Label peelers is in Ohio and I have heard good reports on their products. They have a very good selection.
+1. I’m almost totally a pellet user - their pellets are excellent and the selection is fantastic.
I like Williams Brewing a lot but they don’t have a huge selection.
For my last purchase, I used YVH for the first time. I will probably use them more often because of their selection. If you are purchasing lower AA or noble hops, I would recommend emailing them to get the current value. I ordered some Tettnang that were only 2.1% and outside of their advertised range. That is not their fault however I would have made a different hop selection from other similar varieties which ended up being closer to 5% and would have been more useful for my purposes.
Both retailers are out West so that may not be ideal for you…
Yeah Florida isn’t the hop growing capital quite yet. I don’t get too concerned w the temp change during shipping. They are vacuum sealed which I’m sure helps. Perhaps I can inquire about ice.
Good tip. I just got in an order that had 11% sterling, near twice the AA I have seen in the past. :o
Yep. I got those as well… I would rather have them be higher than lower.
Hop Heaven on eBay. I have bought hops from a number of places through the years but none have compared to the quality I get from Hop Heaven. Last year, Ted, the owner (and BJCP Grand Master) hand selected 30K lb. of hops to sell at his store. That ensures the quality. Sorry to sound like an infomercial, but yes, they’re really that good!
I’m pretty sure Freshops doesn’t grow.
Gotta +1 Denny on that.I bought a lot of hops from Hop Heaven and they were just different. The pellets were very resinous and pungent compared to some of the rather dry ones I have purchased. I got the impression they had been handled very respectfully and probably harvested at their peak.
These are all great sources. I also get a lot of hops from Farmhouse Brewing Supply. They get quite a few experimental varieties, plus some NZ varieties that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
Farmhouse Brewing has great quality and fair prices.
They also sell in 4oz packs, which I find to be quite convenient.
I’ve been happy with Hops Shack in OH, good quality and great prices and good variety. They also ship quick.
I like Hops Shack. Their prices are tough to beat. They also have a moving sale going on now. I also use Label Peelers. Get on their mailing list, because they run 25% off the entire store sales. I just got my first order of Yakima Valley hops a few weeks ago. I haven’t used them but they were packaged nicely and shipped rather quickly considering Oregon and Ohio aren’t necessarly neighbors.