Week 5: Warehouse
What happens before our hops head your way? Watch this week's virtual tour to find out. Tour our warehouse to see how we keep our eyes on our hops around the clock before they get to you.
Cold-Storage Warehousing
We’ve made it to one of the final stops of our tour. See our relentless pursuit of perfection come to a head as we learn how Hops are cared for in our cold storage warehouses. Our Hops don't sleep, and neither do we as we monitor our products 24 hours a day, with regular temperature probes and other quality control measures. Things do get pretty loud in our warehouse, so grab a brew and listen up!
Hops Across Hemispheres
Quick Tour: Harvest in Germany
Farmers, breeders, and brewers are all hard at work across the globe preparing this year's harvest. Check out this short video to see what Harvest looks—and sounds—like in Germany.
While our harvest tour has been focused on our Yakima Valley operations, our teams are supporting harvest across the globe. From innovative new breeding programs in Germany, to sourcing new products in New Zealand, our dedication goes beyond the border.
Global Products
We stop at nothing to bring you the best hops. That's why we source them from across the globe. From our farms in Yakima, to our partners in Europe, Africa & beyond, we're bringing you the best products in the world so you can brew without boundaries.
Security of Supply
Our global reach also gives you the peace-of-mind you need to bring your brewing to the next level. No matter what Mother Nature throws at us, you can bet your supply is always secure with us.
Innovation
Our innovative breeding program in the US has helped propel the industry forward, discovering new flavor profiles and addressed agricultural concerns, like Powdery Mildew. Now, we've brought this next-level technology to Germany, where our team has already identified a genetic marker for Downy Mildew. Check out Solero™, our most recent innovation to be born, bred, and farmed in Germany.
Hops Harvest: USA & Germany
Sourcing hops worldwide means constantly adapting to nature. Learn the differences between the two largest hop producing countries in the world, the US and Germany. Check out some facts below!
Size
The US and Germany may have similar total acreage of hop farms (more than 50,000 acres each), but farms in Germany look a lot different than those in the US. With more than 1000 individual farms in Germany, and only 60 or so in the US, German farms are divided into much smaller farming plots.
Supply
Today, Germany dominates the alpha (bitter) hop market while the US leads in aroma varieties. Why is that? We can look to the US craft beer explosion in the early 2000s. This shift to craft shook up the hop industry in the US and, in 2012, production started shifting away from alpha varieties, to focus more on aroma.
Agriculture
One major difference between the US and Germany: irrigation. Whereas US farms depend on irrigation to water their crops, Germany does not. The result? In the US, yields can be more consistent year after year due to the constant supply of water, whereas yields in Germany rely more so on Mother Nature and can vary based on weather.
Missed Week 4?
Catch part two of processing in last week’s Virtual Harvest Tour. In this portion of our tour, you'll see our hops complete their drying process, get baled, and undergo hourly tests.