Hop Notes 18: The Oregon Hops Issue.
Hop Notes 18: The Oregon Hops Issue.
Expert analysis to help you make better hop decisions.
Your social feeds are blowing up with selection content, the dive bars in Yakima, WA are buzzing with brewers slurping cold ones with stinky green hands. But just a few hours south of Yakima, Washington is the Willamette Valley of Oregon - though it feels like a world away.
As part of being a ‘hop consultant’ I work with farmers, brewers, and sellers across the country. One such client is West Coast Hop Breeding located in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, thanks to them I got to spend a precious few days in the slower, smaller and more personal Oregon hop harvest.
Willamette In Context
Hop production in Oregon takes place in the Willamette Valley, there is no large central city that the farms are clustered near and the closest urban environment is Portland, about an hour to the north.
Oregon hop farms are, in general, much smaller in total acreage than in Washington. According to the Oregon Hop Commission the average Oregon hop farm is about 200 acres, compared to close to 500 acres in Yakima. There are also fewer Oregon hop farms than in Washington.
Put all this together and the vibes around Oregon hop harvest are very different. If Yakima harvest is a State Fair, Oregon harvest is a rural town’s annual Raspberry Fest.
And that’s just alright with me, I like things a little slower, a little smaller and more personal. Plus, Oregon hops are under appreciated bangers. Here’s my report from Oregon hop country.
West Coast Hop Breeding
I spent most of my visit with the farmer-owners of West Coast Hop Breeding (WCHB) a 100% farmer owned hop breeding company. B&D Farms, F&B Farms, Fobert Farms, Stauffer Farms and The Oregon Hop House are the five farmer-owners.
WCHB was founded in 2016 as a uniquely Oregon- and farmer-focused breeding company. Oregon’s climate is distinct from the Yakima Valley, generally wetter and earlier, so breeding hops destined to excel in Oregon’s is a different target for a breeding program to aim for.
Breeding Philosophy
The modern era of the US hop market is dominated by privately-owned hops. It behooves any of us engaging this market to look at private breeding programs as individual actors vs part of one cohesive larger whole. One helpful way to individualize breeding companies is consider the philosophy and goals of a breeding program. Being farmer-owned, non-merchant, and farmer-led sets West Coast Hop Breeding apart.
Built in from the start was a push for sustainability, not in some pithy greenwashing way but for real on-the-ground issues that the farmer-owners face everyday. High yields, disease tolerance or resistance, and lower input requirements is what sustainability really means here. Every cross in the WCHB program is trialed in a Certified Organic growing environment, a much more challenging life than in conventional production yards. This sets a high agronomic bar to pass. And when a hop succeeds in the organic trial yard it means it will do even better when grown with conventional tools but will require less of them.
Also unique is that this is farmer-led breeding, no big merchant or marketer in the middle of things. In farmer-led breeding practical farm-level concerns come first. Hop doesn’t cut it? Gone! Markets are critically important for financially successful varieties but the new variety market and flavor wheel of hops is so crowded. Breeding hops that grow better in Oregon with less inputs while delivering preferred aromas is the goal for WCHB. WCHB’s varieties are destined to replace less agronomically sound varieties - not trying to hit the next big thing - just sensible, practical improvements.
The Varieties
To date WCHB has one released variety and has one experimental variety available for commercial trials. Literally thousands of new varieties are bred annually, with nearly 99% not making it to a second year of trials.
McKenzie™️, named after the McKenzie river which snakes through the Willamette Valley, was released in 2021. Agronomically McKenzie™️ is remarkable for it’s self-training habit, saving loads of labor. McKenzie™️ also features strong disease resistance, an earlier picking window and great yields.
Flavor and beer performance wise McKenzie™️ is moderately intense with bright, semi-sweet, and muddy aroma qualities, as folks say it ‘pairs well with others’. Descriptions of McKenzie’s aroma in beer commonly include stone fruit, tropical, sweet tart and dank.
WCHB-102 (formerly 2B) is an experimental first harvested for commercial trials in 2023. WCHB-102 has good disease resistance, later picking window, and hangs really well, plus big yields. It’s characterized by noticeably large bright green cones with square sides and tight bracts.
In beers WCHB-102 is a powerhouse bringing bright, sweet, and clean aromas with both depth and breadth. WCHB-102 has performed well even as a single hop. This hop is something else, and maybe if it had arrived in the halcyon days of new varieties it would have become one of the main players in the modern IPA game. WCHB-102’s aroma is regularly described as intense sweet pear/pomme, lime zest, American citrus, melon and rounded out by a dose of pine.
Farmer Owners
B&D Farms
Ben Smith and his brother Davey have run B&D Farms since the late 80s after working their whole lives on their father’s hop farm. Now Ben and his wife Cindy make for the unofficial St.Paul, Oregon (population: 429) welcome committee. Their hospitality is almost as legendary to those in the know as their incredible hops.
B&D are very proud Cascade growers. They have won the Cascade Cup 3 times - more than any other farm. They also produce the most expressive Crystal I have ever smelled, Crystal that features in one of the biggest hazy IPA brands in America - Sierra Nevada’s Hazy Little Thing.
B&D have been the main growers of WCHB McKenzie™️ - dialing this new variety into a consistently clean fruit and pine melange.
F&B Farms
Fred Geschwill is part of the latest generation of Geschwills to raise hops outside of Woodburn, OR. Fred is the driving force behind WCHB and his depth of experience in hops is invaluable to the group. He has served the hop industry for years through various industry organizations and has received the prestigious Order of the Hop. F&B Farms are also major plant propagators and their expertise enables WCHB to be super nimble in generating new baby plants for varieties that demand more acreage.
Fobert Farms
Cheyne Fobert and his family are long time hop growers outside of Hubbard, OR. This year Cheyne ran a number of different field and harvest tests on McKenzie™️ - exploring the early and late edges of it’s harvest windows and impacts of various training timings.
Outside of West Coast Hop Breeding varieties, the Fobert’s are great supporters of the American Public Hop Breeding Program, growing a trial yard and hosting harvest equipment for the Oregon-based public hop breeding team.
The Fobert’s have been farming for 4 generations and have gathered some amazing pieces of farming history on their farm. Of specific note for hop enthusiasts - they have a (functional!) 1940s pull-type hop harvester. Here's a video of Cheyne walking through how it works. It’s not unlike the modern day in-field mechanical pickers. Funny how things come around.
The Oregon Hop House
In Aurora, OR Pat Leavy is one of the oldest growers of Certified Organic hops in the country and the only Organic grower in Oregon. Pat is also WCHB’s farmer-breeder. He’s been breeding hops for decades. His practical breeding philosophy is heavily rooted in his farming experience. His organic hops are prized for their excellent quality - especially his organic McKenzie™️ and WCHB-102.
Stauffer Farms
Jeff Bizon is the farm manager for Stauffer Farms, located next door to Fobert Farms in Hubbard. Literally neighbors, you can see the picking barns across the hop fields from each other. Stauffer Farms are the primary growers of experimental WCHB-102. Jeff told me that over years that he’s grown McKenzie™️ there have been multiple seasons where he never had to spray it - an absolutely incredible feat of breeding!
More Oregon Farmers
Oregon farms are a tight bunch, I didn’t just hang out with the West Coast Hop Breeding farmers. I am thankful to the following farmers for making some time at the tail end of harvest to visit!
Coleman Ag
The Colemans are a force in Willamette Valley agriculture. Max Coleman is a member of the millennial generation of the family and is working on the farm. You might have met Max, he’s active in the beer space. Max and his family are Yakima Chief Hops grower-owners and have leaned way in on fresh hop supplying. They arranged a tremendous amount of fresh hop brews this year - just look at Coleman Ag’s Instagram over the last month - all freshies all the time!
McKay Ag
Michelle Carroll (McKay) and I have chatted a number of times over the years. They grow beautiful Nuggets with all sorts of delicious dark, semi-sweet, clean aromas - so much more than just a bittering hop. And now they’re a source for Oregon grown Vista too - having just completed their second harvest of Vista this year.
Scenic Valley Farms
Brian Zielinski and his dad Bob along with their family operate Scenic Valley Farms, a beautiful regenerative vineyard and winery in the valley. This year Brian opened Ratchet Brewing and now serves beer alongside his award winning wines. I’m excited for Ratchet Brewing and Brian - having an active brewery on a hop farm allows for incredible exploration of their farm-grown hops.
If you’re looking to try some Oregon hops, it’s hard to go wrong. Crosby has great stuff, look at the Crosby Estate Grown line. YCH and Haas both carry coveted Oregon Mosaic®️. Hopsteiner varieties are also grown in Oregon. Indie Hops keeps dropping new hops with fantastic clean profiles, and of course they own and have blessed us all with Strata™️. West Coast Hop Breeding has great hops in McKenzie™️ and WCHB-102 (I thought this before I started working for them). And last but certainly not least, Oregon farmers produce some of the best, most expressive Cascade, Crystal, Nugget and Willamette that I have ever smelled.
In this down market many farmers are facing cuts and uncertainty. Opportunity is out there for breweries like yours, regardless of size, to start relationships with farmers. Most farms can get you their products through their distributor partners and many will work with you directly. Check out some Oregon farms, call them, maybe.
After all, brewers need farmers and farmers need brewers.
More hop content:
The Brewer’s Association’s Hop Source is happening now at Yakima Valley Hops in Yakima. If you’re in town - go and lend your nose to public hop research!
For more Oregon hop info, here is a nice bite sized dive into the history of Oregon hop production; lots of cool old historical photos too.
More! More Hop Connections! Here is Game 3. I’m not saying it is easy, but I am saying you will learn something new! (Find Games 1 & 2 in Hop Notes 16).
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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: ericsannerud@gmail.com.