For professional brewers, there are few times of year as wondrous as autumn’s hop harvest season, and few experiences more exciting as heading to the Pacific Northwest for hop selection. It’s a rite of passage in the brewing industry, a chance for brewers to immerse themselves in the sensory experience; to touch, rub and smell one their most prized ingredients, the qualities of which will make a significant difference in the beers they craft. Meeting hop growers, walking their farms and selecting specific lots of the varietals they desire based on hands-on recon is as good as it gets, and would be taking place right now, but due to the pandemic, in-person visits to hop-growing regions are not in the cards. Fortunately, there was enough time between the onset of COVID-19 and this time of year for Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) to employ ingenuity and come up with a plan that would not only present hop harvest in a virtual manner, but also open it up beyond the industry for everyday people to enjoy.
“Hop harvest is a magical time of year when all of the hard work that has been put into the land is now turning into beautiful, fragrant hop cones and towering bines. Hops start to ripen and growers rush to pick them during their optimal harvest window between late-August and September,” says YCH Pacific Regional Sales Manager Kelly Lohrmeyer. “Hops have a very specific pick window and our growers are able to manage that by upgrading facilities, using new kiln technology and having great sensory feedback from our team and our brewers. It is an incredible thing to witness.”
YCH is a 100% grower-owned supplier made up of family-run hop farms in the Yakima Valley. During harvest season, brewers tour those farms, meet the individuals tending the bines and conduct sensory analysis to identify hops exhibiting the qualities they wish to incorporate in their beers. But it’s not a one-way experience. As helpful as it is for brewers to have their boots in the soil and their noses in those hops, YCH and the growers use this time of year to gain valuable feedback from brewers so they can improve their practices to better meet the demands of their customers. It’s an important time of year for everyone.
“We did not take the decision lightly when we chose to host a virtual harvest instead of our traditional in-person events. Our facility tours are insightful and a fun way to engage our customers in the creation of their hop products. The relationships that are created can last a lifetime, as many meaningful conversations are had in the field,” says Lohrmeyer. “However, we know that this year was not the time to gather. We value the safety and wellbeing of our global communities, first and foremost. Additionally, we know many of our customers are not in the financial space to send staff across the world to experience harvest. Virtual Harvest will be amazing in its place, as more brewers will be able to get involved and, hopefully, even more people will want to visit the sleepy town of Yakima during its busiest season: Harvest!”
Pulling off a COVID-era harvest experience required everyone from YCH’s operations, technical and sensory teams to sales and marketing personnel. Using this all-hands approach, they listed all of the events that brewers and guests would experience through traditional farm and facility visits, as well as YCH’s annual Hop & Brew School, then organized them into a packed one-month schedule. It took months of planning and coordination, but throughout the month of September, YCH’s Virtual Harvest will offer daily harvest updates, grower and staff interviews, farm and facility tours, new hop variety announcements and educational presentations from YCH staff and industry experts tapped from far and wide.
While the experience of actually smelling hops can’t be conveyed over the internet, YCH is taking advantage of its video-production team to actually offer a more comprehensive tour component than it can traditionally provide in-person, then fortifying the virtual tours with live Q&A sessions. On the seminar front, though they are technical in nature and will delve into high-level brewing and biological information, YCH has made sure to include introductory level sessions for new brewers and the general public to learn about hops. The goal is to have something for everyone in a year where everyone and anyone can take part.
“Typically, our farm and facility visits are limited to a select few hundred customers out of the thousands of brewers we serve. Logistically, it’s all that we can allow. We also limit our Hop & Brew School event to around 300 commercial and home brewers, and it is a paid event,” says YCH PR and Corporate Communications Manager Cait Schut. “Our Virtual Harvest is open entirely to the public and for free. We hope that it will help to educate the world on the labor of love that goes into every pint, starting in the fields.”
To sign up for Virtual Harvest and receive updates on the event, visit the official website YCH has set up.
Hot Hops
With harvest season upon us, we asked Lohrmeyer to tell us about what hops are in highest demand and particularly interesting this year.
“Citra has now surpassed Cascade as the most grown hop. Mosaic and Simcoe are also in high demand, however, we believe all varietals have a place,” she says. “It’s just about finding that great balance of layering hops in the brewing process to differentiate yourself from others. If you forget the classics and only go for the new stuff, you really are missing out.”
On that note, Lohrmeyer cites Cryo Hops, a pelletized product that has grown in popularity over the past few years. The manufacturing process removes the vegetative matter, leaving behind almost pure lupulin and offering bright flavors, less wort loss and “a whole new way to look at Cascade, Centennial, Chinook and many other classic varietals.”
As far as the crops she’s excited about in 2020, Lohrmeyer lists…
- Idaho Gem: Stone fruit, red berry, citrus, mint and even powdered-sugar aromas…good for IPAs
- HBC 692: Lots of pink grapefruit with a slight herbaceous background that plays well with Simcoe
- Loral: Tons of citrus and white pepper that gives IPAs a nice fruit boost
- Triumph: Light pink bubblegum character
- Idaho 7: Tangerine and some citrus, thiol heavy and opens up the sweet fruit in biotransformation
- Cashmere: Tropical with lemon-lime and stone-fruit characteristics
- Sabro: Coconut if used in the boil, but more pineapple if used in the dry hop…use in active fermentation dry-hopping to cut the woodiness