Hops in beer provide balance to the sweetness and toasty flavors of malt and complement the fruity flavors produced by ale yeast. Beer can be made without hops, but it might be unrecognizable to many as even a beer.
The hop plant is a climbing vine with the Latin name of Humulus lupulus. Doesn’t that sound like a spell in “Harry Potter.” Hops can perform magic in beer due to the chemical makeup of the hop cones. The cones are the flowering part of the hop plant, and the cones contain all the good stuff of hops. Only female hop plants flower so commercial hop growers pull up the male plants. Back to the good stuff. Within the cone flower are little glands called lupulin which contain a golden yellow powder which is referred to as lupulin.
Lupulin contains the resins that provide bitterness to beer as well as the oils that provide aroma and flavor. An important resin is alpha acid. On their own, alpha acids are not bitter, but when the alpha acids are heated, they isomerize to form iso-alpha acids. Sounds like a few more spells from “Harry Potter.” Iso-alpha acids are the bittering agents in beer. When making beer, the liquid wort is boiled for an hour or more. The isomerization of alpha acids is a slow process, and hops are added to the wort at the start of the boil to get the desired bitterness of the beer. If you want a less bitter beer, add the hops later in the boil, but usually the boil including hops would not be less than 45 minutes.
What about the oils in lupulin? These oils provide flavor and aroma. There are hundreds of different oils, but all are very important in the flavor and aroma of each type of hop. Oils evaporate when boiled with the wort so to provide flavor and aroma to beer, hops must be added later in the boil. A single beer may have multiple types of hops. A hop for bitterness would be added at the start of the boil. A hop for flavor would be added about halfway through the boil, and a hop for aroma would be added near the end of the boil or even after the boil is complete.
United States Department of Agriculture collects data each year on the hop harvest in the states of Washington, Idaho and Oregon. This is the main hop growing region in the United States. Information is collected from other states that grow hops, but the number of acres and yields are very low compared to these three states.
Washington state is the largest producer with 33,361 acres planted to hops and the resulting value of the hops grown is over $320 million. Idaho and Oregon are close in hop production with 5,797 and 5,635 acres respectively. The value of Idaho hops was over $68 million and the Oregon hops were valued at over $56 million.
The biggest trend in the report is that the number of hop acres planted in these three states is declining. Washington state acres planted to hops declined from 42,762 in 2022 to 33,361 in 2024. There are many factors impacting the number of acres of hops planted. These include climate, demand for hops, and age of farmers and a lack of succession for the farm.
The varieties of hops produced is like reading a craft beer menu – Citra, Simcoe, Nugget, Mosaic to name a few. The largest number of acres planted goes to Citra at almost 2,000 acres.
Hops are important to producing beer across the globe and the U.S. does produce most of the hops needed for beer brewing. Other varieties may grow better in different parts of the world but can be grown here. Thanks to USDA for all the great data on hops, a main ingredient in the beer we love!
