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We think it safe to say that hops, their health and production, is pretty damn important to the craft beer industry. And thankfully according to an update we recently received from the Hop Growers of America crew (HGA)…things are good and getting better!
Okay, we’re gonna keep things as un-geeky as possible here, but can we all acknowledge that hop production is one of craft beer’s cornerstones…and that what’s good news for hop-growers is great news for American craft beer, right?
Well good… because according to the HGA things are “hopping” (sorry) out there in the hop-production landscape that’s now seeing unprecedented growth!
So here are some hop highlights….
Thanks to continued and increasing demand for hop-forward beers, (and we blame all of you for that!), hop acreage continues to grow nationally as well as all across the world.
And even with overall beer production decreasing, US hop production has grown an astounding 95.8% in the last five years.
To put it into perspective, the acreage added in the US over the last 5 years is larger than the total acreage of any other hop-growing country in the world!
Not surprisingly, America and Germany, remain the two largest hop-producing countries.
Driven in part by the world’s growing base of craft beer consumers and their seemingly unquenchable thirst for IPAs and other highly hopped beers, what US growers are now experiencing is a far more stable market than they have in past years.
So pending Armageddon (or until craft beer enthusiasts finally abandon the IPA) things look healthy for hops around the world… and that’s understandably a good thing
