Hop stat of the day: Cascade vs. Saaz

In 1982, 10 years after it was first released, farmers in the American Northwest planted Cascade hops on 6,111 acres. Twenty five years (2007) later they planted 1,303 acres.

I don’t think trendspotters would have predicted that growers would harvest 11,601,500 pounds of Cascade from 6,519 acres in 2014.

To put that in perspective, Czech Republic farmers harvested 11,346,280 pounds of Saaz hops in 2014.

In 2005, farmers in the Northwest produced 2,378,000 pounds of Cascade and Czech farmers harvest 14,995,860 pounds of Saaz.

So, a) Cascade production increased almost five fold since 2005, and b) last Cascade production in its primary area of production surpassed Saaz in its primary area of production (both are grown in other areas as well).