USA: Craft beer sector growing so fast that hop growers can’t keep up with the demand for its newest hits
Athens, GA-based Creature Comforts Brewing is growing so fast that its supply chain can’t keep up, The Australian reported on September 29.
The brewer has had so much trouble finding enough of a special type of hops called Citra — the plant that gives its popular Tropicalia ale its bitter flavour and fruity aroma — that it has been forced to reject orders for about 8000 barrels of beer during the past year. That is more than $US2 million ($2.6 mln) in revenue and enough beer to nearly double production.
The Athens, Georgia-based brewer isn’t alone. A host of smaller, regional brewers including Wicked Weed Brewing of Asheville, North Carolina, and MadTree Brewing of Cincinnati have run into similar constraints.
The shortages are contributing to the sudden slowdown in craft beer sales. During the first half of the year, independent brewers’ volumes grew about 8 per cent, ending six years of double-digit growth, according to the Brewers Association, which represents the industry.
The problem isn’t lack of hops production. Farmland devoted to the crop has increased 65 per cent during the past five years to about 51,000 acres (20,640ha) from 31,000 acres. About 70 per cent 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 4000-plus brewers to pick from, compared with about 20,000 beers from 2000 brewers five years ago, according to the Brewers Association.
It takes hop developers such as S.S. Steiner and Select Botanicals Group about 10 years to cross-pollinate the beer-flavouring plants to create proprietary varieties with unique flavours and aromas. The results are new types including Lemon Drop and Citra.
Only about 10 hop varieties are central to many of today’s popular IPAs, and more than 4000 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.
In addition to the 10 high-demand hops, farmers have to balance demand for more than 40 other varieties that are less popular but equally as important to some beer recipes.
Production is complicated by the time it takes to grow hops. The plants produce about 50 per cent to 75 per cent of their potential yield in the first year on average and don’t mature fully until their second or third year. Meanwhile, new breweries open daily. Those start-ups often are uncertain about growth plans, making it risky for farmers to commit to long-term contracts with them.
“Everyone wants the next thing. What’s the new hop? It’s tricky from an agronomic perspective,” said Diane Gooding, who oversees operations at Gooding Farms in Parma, Idaho.
30 September, 2016
