A press release from the Hop Growers Union of the Czech Republic indicates the European protected designation of origin “Zatecky Chmel” (Saaz hops) was used for the first time in the processing the 2007-2008 hop products of from Zatec.
Hops from 138 villages in the Czech Republic were labeled with the Zatecky mark. The majority of […]

Sorry, I’m pleading impending deadlines and we’ve got this trip to start packing for so just the facts from presentations at the Craft Brewers Conference on the status of barley malt and hops supplies. (I know how you’ll miss my prose).
- The barley malt supply will remain tight until at least 2009. Price volatility is […]

Today a tree: the Simcoe hop. Tomorrow the forest: the rest of the hops in the world.
And not just because it seems that how you describe the aroma of Simcoe determines if you drink/smell beer like a man or like a woman.
Simcoe was only released to the brewing world in 2000 and really is a […]

Wednesday I am off to the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego.
Yes, this involves drinking beer. It also involves a lot of asking questions. In my case many will be wheat related, since I’m starting work on the previously mentioned book for Brewers Publications.
But if you were going and could ask craft brewers or […]

The Associated Press has good news for us:
Some Yakima Valley hop growers are pulling other crops to plant the beer-flavoring ingredient and planting new acreage in response to a worldwide shortage that caught everyone - brewers, dealers and growers - by surprise.
This story makes me giddy.
Growers are feverishly reconditioning yards and adding new land at […]

Red Tractor beer is not a brand in the UK (as opposed to the Palisade Red Truck IPA from Colorado), but a stamp that assures it is made only with British ingredients that have been checked for quality assurance.
Wells and Young’s has become the first major brewer to promote the Red Tractor logo.
Red Tractor “is […]

I’m giving this comment its own post because it likely would go unnoticed at the bottom of an older thread.
Technical information about brewing without hops fits more comfortably in a homebrewing blog, but I’ve mentioned gruit here and do have a category for ingredients. So if you have suggestions for Tom fire away — links […]

The Washington Post reports a Japanese consortium hasy released a Health and Food Advice Robot that can distinguish among 30 kinds of wine, as well as various cheeses and breads, and “has the irritating capacity to warn its owner against poor eating habits.”
The expert taster sat silently in the brightly lighted room, surrounded by 53 […]

How much beer will those 10 tons of hops Boston Beer is selling to small breweries make?
Left to their own devices, these hops might provide proper bitterness, flavor and aroma for 40,000 barrels (31 gallons to a barrel) of craft beer. However most of the East Kent Goldings or Tettnang Tettnanger the brewer of Samuel […]

Maybe I should have called this blog Appellation Hops. Or at least created a separate category for Hops, rather than lumping it with Ingredients.
But on the heals of Sam Adams news about freeing up hops for smaller brewers the latest issue of Brew Your Own magazine arrived yesterday with the “Hop Survival Guide.”
It includes substitution […]