As we await the release of the 2023 USDA Hops Report, here’s a news and notes issue covering topics that I’ve come across in the last few months.
Renaming Hops For Marketing
Farmers and marketers regularly give hops new names, distinct from the plant’s trade name. Most famously perhaps, Taiheke is Cascade grown in New Zealand. Other examples include Pépite (Nugget) from Four Star Farms in MA, Julius (Cascade) from yours truly during the Mighty Axe Hops days, or Skyrocket (Chinook) from Gorst Valley Hops in WI.
Is this okay? I guess that’s for you to decide. Many folks feel like it is just marketing BS. But yes, depending on the context, I do think it is ok. In fact I think it is really cool when done right.
In order to do this right, a few things have gotta be there:
1. The hop really does have to be consistently different from traditional expectations. (Side bar: yes, hops have terroir. But you don’t have to take my word for it, here is Stan’s dissertation on the subject).
2. The hop’s genetic identity can not be hidden from the purchaser.
When done right, renaming a hop variety creates more transparency, not less. It invites more connection. Renaming encourages brewers to engage with hops on a deeper level than the variety name and dig into the agricultural realities of hop growing. Hops don’t come from a delivery truck or a slick talking sales person.
Let’s apply these rules to Pépite hops.
Just seeing Nugget on a label is not very exciting for most brewers these days. But Pépite? You’re thinking: “What is that? How does it smell? What could I do with it?”. Now you are reaching out to the supplier or farmer and you get to unpack the whole story behind the re-naming effort. You learn about their French Canadian roots, their experience with the terroir of Nugget grown at their farm, and how that translates into exciting beer flavors. They can show you examples of numerous beers and brewers experiencing that difference. So that’s rule number 1: check.
As for rule number 2? Right off the page: “Our Nugget are so different from their west coast counterparts that we call them by a different name; Pépite, French Canadian for Nugget.” Not hiding it, in fact, embracing it in a fun way with new name. Without this level of transparency I don’t support renaming hops. It defeats the purpose of creating opportunities for more engagement.
Thanks to dear reader Max for sparking this thought.
More hop content:
Humanizing Hops: This guest blog on Mill 95 by Hannah Ison, Director of Brewing Operations at Zeroday Brewing Company, is a good read. It can be hard to sit and really think about all the people, all the effort, behind everyday things - overwhelming to what their situations might be and how your choices as a consumer of a product are defacto endorsements of their situations. I appreciate Hannah diving in and sharing a story centering the laborers who make our hoppy beers possible.
NZ Keeps Going Bigger! Clayton Hops, already one of the largest growers of hops in New Zealand, launched a new family of hop products called Amplifire. The Amplifire line features both enriched hop pellets and fresh hop oils. Looks to me like the NZ hop market is racing through similar growth points we saw in the US market. I’m interested to see how this all shakes out.
Website refresh! In this lull before conference season I took the opportunity to re-fresh Sannerud Hop Consulting’s website - and to prominently feature my motto “Brewing Is Ag”. Take a look, let me know what you think:
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That’s all for now. If you have topics you’d like to read about in Hop Notes my inbox is open 24/7: ericrsannerud@gmail.com.