I love to talk about hops… but not when they are on fire!
According to news reports,, an estimated 4 percent of the U.S. hop crop burned in a warehouse this morning. They estimate it was worth 3.5 to 4 million dollars.
The article was unclear whether the company that operates the warehouse, S.S. Steiner Inc., sells primarily to mass breweries, craft brewers, or both. In any case, none of it is good news except that no one was hurt.
Did you now that the U.S. produces almost ¼ of the worlds hops? I personally didn’t realize that our stake was that high (and I blog about hops… *sheesh*). I’m not sure where all those hops go…you certainly can’t taste any in mass-brewed American lagers.
I also find it interesting that the report starts out mentioning what hops do: Flavoring beer and ale. Err, redundant, but I guess just saying “flavors beer” was too boring.
Tragedy!
Other news stories are quoting local brewers and trade groups as saying that this loss will not affect the price of locally-produced beers.
Also, sources are indicating that the hops lost were high-alpha, used for bittering, rather than low-alpha, used for flavoring. High-alpha hops are much more easily replaced.
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