As craft beer brewers
(read: smaller, independent operations) vie with each other for the best
ingredients—not everyone is going to get their share of the “best” stuff.
Take
the case of speciality hops. Hops that
have outstanding aroma characteristics are being coveted by more and more
brewers. This rush on speciality hops is causing a
log jam in craft beer production and as a result sales are slipping down as
well.
The
following article in the Wall Street Journal goes a long way to explain the
dilemma:
Here’s
a snippet of the article written by WSJ’s Tripp Mickle and posted September 27,
2016:
“...The
problem isn’t lack of hops production. Farmland devoted to the crop has
increased 65% during the past five years to about 51,000 acres from 31,000 acres.
About 70% of that land is planted with high-demand varieties such as citra,
which also is a key ingredient in popular brews like MadTree’s PSA (Proper
Session Ale).
“The
problem is the rapid proliferation of tiny beer brands from a fiercely
competitive and rapidly expanding craft beer industry. Beer drinkers now have
an estimated 30,000 different choices from 4,000-plus brewers to pick from,
compared with about 20,000 beers from 2,000 brewers five years ago, according
to the Brewers Association.
“It
takes hop developers such as S.S. Steiner Inc. and Select Botanicals Group
about 10 years to cross-pollinate the beer-flavoring plants to create
proprietary varieties with unique flavors and aromas. The results are new types
including lemondrop and citra.
“Only
about 10 hop varieties are central to many of today’s popular IPAs, and more
than 4,000 brewers are battling for them, says Wicked Weed co-owner Luke
Dickinson, who named the brewery after Henry VIII’s reported description
of hops as a “wicked and pernicious weed.”
‘“It’s
like a bunch of wolves going after a carcass,”’ he said.
“When
a new hop style takes off, like citra has, ‘“it’s hard to keep up,”’
said Amy Matthews, brand manager at Select Botanicals.
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