Indie Hops’ Open House: A Celebration to Usher in the 2010 Harvest

HUBBARD, OR. In the heart of Oregon’s hop country, Indie Hops unveiled its clean, green pellet mill to over 100 craft brewers, hop farmers, OSU and WSU ag scientists and even a few of our competitors last Friday. After plying our guests with BBQ and beers, we cranked up the space age mill and it didn’t blow.

It did, however, to the delight of all, convert a bale of Cascade hops into big, fat, oily Type 90 pellets. As one brewer commented, “They kept crowing about their pellet die temp being under 110F and they delivered. We gunned their pellets at 106F.”

Special guest Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Or), himself an avid home brewer, delivered a rousing speech to the faithful in which he lauded craft brewing as “a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economy.” Rep. DeFazio made no bones about it: he’s proud to help nurture a growing industry that generates thousands of jobs at a time when the largest brewer in the US is foreign-owned (InBev/Bud).

It’s well known that Oregonians tend to support their own. Almost 40% of the beer brewed in Oregon is consumed within the state – a testament to brand loyalty as well as customer sophistication. And small in-state breweries own about 11% of the market share in Oregon, the highest in the US.

As Jim noted in his opening remarks to the faithful, "Oregon has it all. We’ve got the soil, water and climate. We’ve got some of the best brewers, the best hop farmers, and the smartest hop scientists in the world. And now Oregon has its own hop processor and we pledge to rise to the same standard of excellence that you have set."

Of course, even the best aroma hops terroir has it’s hiccups. This season was a wet one in the Willamette Valley. The rainy Spring finally did surrender to the sunny skies of Summer, but only recently. (By the way, aroma hops thrive in cooler weather). Insect pressure has been light. Mildew was a potential threat but it stayed manageable. Aphids never posed a serious threat and, thanks to cooler temperatures, the spider mites were kept at bay. The cooler summer has allowed our beloved cones to achieve their iconic plumpness.

The scuttlebutt among the Oregon farmers is that, thanks to the surge in sunshine, we should have a decent – but not banner --harvest, although for certain cultivars it might be delayed about a week. The following is a snapshot of the anticipated harvest for select varieties:

US Tettanger -- August 16-18th
Centennials -- August 18-20th
Willamettes -- August 23ish
Sterling -- September 3-6.
Cascade -- September 6-8th.
Mt. Hood -- 1st week September

As the venerable Val Peacock, Ph.D, recently advised in The New Brewer (July/Aug 2010), brewers are advised to visit the farms from which they purchase their hops. We agree – and we’ll add to that sage advice our own admonition that you ought to get to know your pellet millers and walk their shop. At Indie Hops, we’d be happy to arrange for you to visit the Goschie and Coleman hopyards.

Check for yourself the quality of the hops, the cleanliness of the farms and machinery, the timing of the harvest, the status of any mildew or pest problems, and the operation of the drying rooms. After a tour of the hopyards, we’d be pleased to escort you over to our nearby plant and perhaps run a few bales for you. We’ll provide the earplugs, but even though we tend to get carried away with our pellet design and quality, we’ll ask in advance that you not insert them until we flip the switch.

Thanks to everybody for joining us in the celebration of Oregon’s first pellet mill. We’re very pleased to join the craft beer revolution and we appreciate your support and feedback. Special thanks to Bridgeport, Lucky Labrador and Full Sail for bringing the beer.

Roger Worthington
8/9/10

In Pursuit of Hop Heaven: Getting High at The Indie Hops Mt. Hood Cycling Classic

Hood River, Or. Two races under my belt, two to go. Building up a mighty thirst. Maintaining my one-brew-a -day discipline, but can’t wait to go rogue on Sunday just after I finish the windy-grindy criterium around the iconic Full Sail Brewery.

I plan to celebrate with a brew I just discovered today – Full Sail’s “Hop Pursuit.” Great minds think alike? I stopped by Full Sail after finishing the notorious Columbia Gorge time trial (can you say “intentional infliction of emotional and cardio-pulmonary distress”), hoping to chat with brewer Jim Kelter.

Exactly one year ago today, before we had a pellet mill, before we had farm contracts, I met with Jim to talk about our pursuit of noble hops. Then, Indie Hops was just a dream. He suggested I come back when we had hops.

My mission today was to get Jim’s feedback on the diameter, coarseness, oiliness, dispersal, entrainment and aroma of our hop pellets. As you may have read, we’re proud of our new “patient” pelleting mill, but the only opinion that matters is that of the brewers. Their feedback is critical in our mission to “get it right.” Our goal is nothing short of the best designed hop pellet using the best aroma hops in the world.

Jim wasn’t in, but I hope to hook up with him on Sunday in our VIP tent. Full Sail has been a long time sponsor of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. Their support of cycling has always impressed me. The cork-screw criterium around their brewery is like a roller coaster – you’re constantly diving, angling, swooping and sprinting. On a sunny day the course presents challenges. If it rains, better notify the local ER to bring in a few more trauma doctors.
Here’s something funny. Several months ago, we filed for a trademark on the phrase “In Hop Pursuit.” The phrase captures our mission to both breed new aroma hop varieties as well as resurrect a few of the unsung heroes. Plus it reminds me of the mixture of harnessed rage, nut crazy discipline, and unrelenting desire that helped me win a few medals as a pursuit-ist on the velodrome Back in The Day (way back in The Day!).
Thank goodness my lawyer’s instinct to file first and ask questions later has mellowed as I’ve transitioned from litigator to budding hopmeister. I’m hoping Full Sail’s Hop Pursuit is a huge success and I want to be part of that glory! Since tomorrow I’ve got to climb 10,000 feet over 92 miles with a mountain finish at Mt Hood Meadows ski resort , I’m going to hold off on draining this bottle of Hop Pursuit that’s staring at me.

I admire the label, but the ingredients are making my mouth water. From their website:

“We brewed it with the less aggressive, old school craft brewing hops– Cascade, Willamette, and Mt. Hood– to celebrate more of the hop flavor and less of the hop bitterness. These give the beer a nice and fresh citrus herbal character without a lot of intensity; instead it has a softly flavorful character with touches of orange and lemon. We dry hopped for two weeks to amplify these delicate hop flavors.” (http://www.fullsailbrewing.com/brewmaster-reserve.cfm

Yes! Here’s to the “old school” greats, brought to you by the People’s Hopmeister, Dr. Al Haunold, my hop Svengali. Normally, before a big race, I’d be nervous . Plus, since I won this race last year, I’d be feeling the pressure to repeat (see cool shot of this hop-fiend on point: http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/rider-list/featured-riders ).

But not this year. Knowing I’ve got a 22 ounce bottle of Hop Pursuit waiting for me at the finish line virtually ensures that even if the race is pure wicked Hell, soon enough I’ll be entering hop heaven.

Praise Hell. Get to Hop Heaven.

Roger Worthington
6/4/10
Reporting from the Indie Hops Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, Hood River, Or. Hop On! http://www.mthoodcyclingclassic.com/

Hop Talk with Hopmeister Al Haunold, Part VII

Buy Local, Go Green and Save Green: The Case for Mt. Hood, Liberty, Ultra and Crystal

By now you’ve noticed a theme that goes something like this.

• Industrial brewers back in The Day (pre-1980) grew tired of paying higher prices for unreliable supplies of European noble aroma hop imports.


• The Industrials tasked Dr. Haunold, the People’s Hopmeister, to breed noble hop surrogates with a similar oil profile but with higher alpha acid, higher yields, and superior disease resistance.


• Dr. Haunold delivered, and then some. He delivered, but it turned out the Industrials, after driving the research and breeding, wound up seldom utilizing the new and improved noble “mimics,” as in the late 1970s they began trending away from aromatic lagers and pilseners and towards super alpha varieties for bittering only.


• The craft breweries came along in the mid 1980s and began taking a greater interest in the noble aroma mimic “cast offs’ for uniquely American style pale ales.


• Many crafties, however, continued to be seduced by the mystique and aura of European, Old World hops (Saazer, Tettnanger, Hallertau Mittelfrueh). They were willing to pay more, as securing ginormous supplies from afar was not a major concern for smaller, start-up brewers.


• In recent years, the dollar has weakened against the Euro, which has resulted in higher prices for European hop imports. Meanwhile, overall annual hop acreage in Oregon has dropped significantly in the past decade.


• Yours Truly then ends up ranting that it doesn’t make sense to pay more for low yielding and arguably inferior (well, different) hops just because of a perceived marketing boost. Form over substance! Status. Hype. Yours Truly’s head then threatens to explode when you fold in the fact that buying Euro puts Oregon farmers out of work and puts more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. (Quick, you’re a brewer in San Diego. What’s greener: buying hops from Hubbard, Oregon or Mainburg, Germany?)

Here we go again.

We’ve already shown that Sterling and Santiam are darn good substitutes for Czech Saazer and German Tettnanger, respectively. For many of the same reasons, the same holds true for Mt. Hood, Liberty, Ultra and Liberty, all excellent replacements for Hallertau Mittlefrueh, another august noble aroma from Old Bavaria. How old? The literature says Hallertau hops began gracing Bavarian gardens in 736 AD and sanctifying brews in about 1100.

Bigger, Better, Stronger

Dr. Haunold released all four of the U.S. mimics of Hallertauer mf between 1990 and 1993 (the “mf” refers to the “medium early’ maturation date, circa late August in Germany). For each of the above named varieties, the yields in the US are much higher. The US varieties have higher alpha acid percentages (except for Crystal). The oil profiles are comparable. The comparative risk of crop-devastating diseases, pests or climactic “acts of god” for US varieties is far lower – summer hailstorms in the German Hallertau region are not freak occurrences.

Each, with the exception of Crystal, found favor with the Industrials (viz, Anheuser Busch, Strohs, Coors, Labbats, Modelo), largely because Al boosted the alpha juice. Crystal’s alpha, however, stayed even with it’s land race progenitor at around 3-5%, and the Industrials rejected it. Al was ready to toss Crystal and would have but for the lobbying of a single hop merchant who thought the burgeoning crafties would like its aroma and he convinced Al to release it.

Al is particularly fond of Mt. Hood, which is a ½ sister of Ultra, Liberty and Crystal. It’s parentage is as follows: 2/3 Hallertauer mf, 1/6 Early Green (a UK hop that came to the US in the early 1930s and faded away with little fanfare), and 1/6 unknown German aroma male. Mt. Hood, as well as its half-sisters, are triploid cultivars, which, Al explains, means that it tends to be vigorous, higher yielding, and nearly seedless, which is a bonus for hop happy craft brewers.

The Valley is Hotter

Mt. Hood is not an early maturing hop like its Bavarian blood mother, probably on account of the differences in terroir. Summers in the Willamette Valley, with its South-North mountain ranges, tend to be much hotter and drier than the Hallertau region in Germany, which is nestled at the base of an East-West mountain chain. Mt. Hoods mature around August 27th, while the German noble mother is primed for harvest around August 25th in the Fatherland.

Take a peak at the analytics. German grown Hallertau mf is poor yielding, low alpha (3-5%), low cohumulone (20), low total oil (0.8 ml/100g), low myrcene (40), high H/C ratio (3.4), has a trace of farnesene and stores fairly to poorly. Oregon-grown Mt. Hood, by contrast, has excellent yield, higher alpha (5-7%), slightly higher cohumulone (23), twice the total oils (1.6), a lower H/C ratio (23) and stores much better.

Flavor and aroma? They are nearly super-imposable. Mount Hood: “refined, spicy aroma and clean bittering.” Hallertau mf: “mild spicy and pleasant.” Liberty: “spicy, mild, resiny, flowery.” Of course, neither Al, nor this budding hopster, would presume to be the ultimate arbiter on taste.

How about overall US consumption? Here’s where I scratch my head. It appears a few crafties continue to be willing to pay more for the mystique. In 2009, German grown Hallertau mf imported to the US ranked 17th (34,123 lbs). The US grown cultivars ranked as follows: 9th, Crystal (65,631 lbs); 20th, Mt. Hood (32,148 lbs); and 83rd out of 88, almost dead last, Ultra (250 lbs).

Missing the Boat

“They’re missing the boat,” concluded Al, when I read to him the rankings. “Mt. Hood is a superb aroma hop. I don’t understand why it doesn’t rank higher among craft brewers. Of the four Hallertau hops we bred for US production, Mt. Hood was my favorite. The flavor and aroma are excellent. High yields. Good oils. Locally grown.”

Hmmm. Why would some crafties want to spend more for German grown hops? Even if it means a bigger carbon footprint, a less reliable supply, and putting Oregon hop farmers out of work? Perhaps it’s all about the grand experience of boarding a plane to Munich in the late summer ostensibly to inspect the hop harvest. Hey, we got beerfests in the Northwest, too!

Finally, consider this. Aroma hops grow and mature differently than super alphas. They need more care, and thus their price is higher. The plots are smaller. An investment in Oregon hop farmers will help secure a diverse, reliable, sustainable, and quality pipeline in the future.

Roger Worthington
2/26/10