YAKIMA, Wash. — This years’ hop harvest season marks the smallest crop ever, even smaller than last years’, a record at it’s time.
It’s not because the weather has been bad, but because supply in the last few years has been outpacing demand.
There is currently a surplus of hops, as there has been for the last few years, but John I Haas’ Hop Procurement Manager Hunter Van De Graaf thinks it’s just a matter of time until more hops will be grown.
“It’s working through the backup that the brewers have held for the last few years, from when they were buying in the boom,” Van de Graaf said. “Now it’s just working through it, and once we get through that, we’ll be growing again just like we were.”
This year, around 42,000 acres of hops were grown nationally.
