Yakima Valley hops

I'm a fan of Mosaic, but with the increasing prices of the popular varieties this year, I've been resorting to the less popular older hop varieties and finding some excellent combinations. I've been using a lot of things like CTZ, Nugget, Cascade, etc, and experimenting with whatever is cheap. I refuse to pay $30 a pound for any hop........ Like reading, a limited selection often leads you to real treasures. We have an embarrassment of riches where hops are concerned, and the "thundering herd" pursues the latest and greatest.......... while I look at the real treasures left in their wake. For example, a very heavily hopped CTZ brew with lots of whirlpool and dry hopping can be an extremely compelling brew, and as CTZ has been "left in the dust", I can afford to go to excess with it. Similarly Cascade is often on sale inexpensively, and used generously with the right companions can make a wonderful brew. Nugget is a fantastic single hop, done right, and pairs with various other hops very well. These are all hops I buy at around $8 per pound......... and there are others such as Northern Brewer.

In this case Yakima Valley Hops is offering Mosaic (2016) at $16 per pound, a wonderful and popular hop that pairs well with some of the spicy hops, and makes wonderful summer beers. It's been in the $24-$30 range lately..... I just ordered 2 pounds of it.

This is a sail for Memorial Day Weekend ONLY, ending midnight Monday. If you like Mosaic as much as I do, this is a great deal. I have no connection with YVH.... I've bought hops from them for a long time now, and when I'm in the area 700 miles from home, I always drop in. I often come away with baggies of "experimental hops" for free. Fortunately the cops don't mistake them for pot ;-) Last fall I came away with over a pound, plus the hops I bought.

H.W.

Moving this post here was a stupid and contemptible act of irresponsible mis-moderation. I am NOT affiliated in any way with Yakima Valley Hops except as a customer. The prices I've been seeing for this hop have ranged from the low 20's to has high as 35 dollars. This post was intended to pass along information to my fellow home brewers of a short term sale, and perhaps save them some money.
I would hope that a few people who like myself look for bargains in hops were able to take advantage of the sale as I did........... before it was hidden from view. I don't think I'm the only bargain hunter here...........


H.W.

Hops Direct has Mosaic at $16/lb pellet or leaf, every day of the year? Every lb I've bought from them over the past few years has around 19 oz in it. I checked prices between them and YVH, and just about everything at Hops Direct was the same price or cheaper.

hopmonster2189 said:

Hops Direct has Mosaic at $16/lb pellet or leaf, every day of the year? Every lb I've bought from them over the past few years has around 19 oz in it. I checked prices between them and YVH, and just about everything at Hops Direct was the same price or cheaper.

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Thanks for the suggested supplier..... I was not familiar with them. The pricing I've seen everywhere else, as I said, ranged from the low 20's to the mid 30's. $35 was the highest I'd seen. I'll visit Hops Direct next time I pass through the area. It's not nearly as far out of my way as Yakima as I go out to visit my mother in Portland. I often pass through Tri Cities, and I avoid major highways as much as possible. 97 down through Goldendale, and west through the hills to the Klickitat river, down to Lyle, and the Washington side to Vancouver is a nice route..... well away from '84. My brother lives in South Prairie, Wa, and there is a nice route that goes up close to Mt Rainier, and disgorges you onto Whites Pass not far from Yakima, and the trail out past Hanford isn't a bad route, out through the channeled scablands and palouse country, Up past Sand Point and Thompson Falls or Lolo pass, etc. I have dozens of routes, some through Northern and some through Southern Idaho. It's never boring unless you are on the interstate.

H.W.

Owly055 said:

Moving this post here was a stupid and contemptible act of irresponsible mis-moderation. I am NOT affiliated in any way with Yakima Valley Hops except as a customer. The prices I've been seeing for this hop have ranged from the low 20's to has high as 35 dollars. This post was intended to pass along information to my fellow home brewers of a short term sale, and perhaps save them some money.
I would hope that a few people who like myself look for bargains in hops were able to take advantage of the sale as I did........... before it was hidden from view. I don't think I'm the only bargain hunter here...........


H.W.

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This isn't hidden from view - its a review of YVH and was moved to the YVH review thread.

For others who are wondering, if you have a question about moderation, the best approach is to PM a moderator, rather then resort to calling moderators names in the forum.

Peacefully understanding all points discussed review/non-review.

I have been using YVH extracts for my bittering addition and have enjoyed great results with this CO2 based extract. I bought a 100 gram can and some needle-less syringes on Amazon so I could make my own hop shots. I get great yet mild bittering from this CTZ based extract, it is very inexpensive over the long haul, plus reduces vegetal matter and hop trub. Worth a look.

I just poured out the 2nd glass of beer in my life...I had some grapefruit pulpin IPA in a keg and it needed some hops boost...a bit too sweet and not enough hops... I decided yesterday to drop an ounce of the 2014 exp. grapefruit hops in it... OMG is it aweful today. I can drink almost anything but not this. I will leave it be for a week and try it again.

I just poured out the 2nd glass of beer in my life...I had some grapefruit pulpin IPA in a keg and it needed some hops boost...a bit too sweet and not enough hops... I decided yesterday to drop an ounce of the 2014 exp. grapefruit hops in it... OMG is it aweful today. I can drink almost anything but not this. I will leave it be for a week and try it again.

I just placed an order with Yakima Valley Hops and wanted to come on here and say that I must commend them on their customer service.

I ordered about 6 0.5 lb bags of hops. I noticed that I could save a few bucks if I ordered a mix bag (3 hop variety, 0.5 lb each in one variety pack) BOOM done. Placed the order and went about my day. 2 hours later, I look back on the order and notice the variety pack is whole hops, crap! I have never used hole hops and I am privy to pellets, so i tried to edit my order. The website says "your order is in the final stage of processing and cannot be edited." I gave them a ring and left a message. When they opened, they called me right back, were more than willing to edit my order and still ship it out the same day. The best part, there was a small cost differential in getting pellets instead of whole leaf hops, and they told me not to worry about it, it was a small enough change that they would eat it.

Kudos to YVH for speedy service, getting the order out on time and their generousity

I buy pretty much all my hops from YVH. The only time I go elsewhere is when they don't have something (like nelson sauvin), which is pretty rare.

My last order was for a lb each of Galaxy and El Dorado. They accidently sent Enigma and El Dorado. I contacted them and they very quickly resolved the order.

Bottom line: great quality product, excellent customer service. They're great.

Anyone else been getting some skunky/funky hops from YVH? I recently ordered a bunch of american hops that should have been bright, fruity, and floral but they all smelled "off" when opening the bag. This skunkiness was evident in the final product (i.e. finished beer). Perhaps this year's crop is showing a little different than year's past maybe?

I've been buying from YVH for 2 years now.

I always stick to the most recent crop years and have been very pleased in the product quality. I seriously question how old some of the hops are in the LHBS after getting fresh stock.

Only complaint is they cram a lot of pouches into a box and their packaging isn't up for the abuse USPS subjects them to. Each time I've had a pouch lose its vac seal due to a small tear.

Just got my latest order from YVH. Shipped in a soft USPS flat rate envelope.

2 of 8 packages pierced. Worse than usual but not unexpected.

I have probably ordered 10-15 #'s from them over the past couple years and have had 3 punctured packaging issues.

Received some a pound of centennial that has lost its seal and seems squishy to the touch today going to package it tonight and see if there is a bigger problem in the pouch.

I just got an order with close to 20# in it, and not a single bag was punctured

I got 7.5lbs recently with no issues.

I’ve never not had a package puncture. Always comes in an overstuffed soft bag.

Does 20lbs come in a box? Maybe I need to buy more than fits in a bag.

schematix said:

I’ve never not had a package puncture. Always comes in an overstuffed soft bag.

Does 20lbs come in a box? Maybe I need to buy more than fits in a bag.

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Yes, There was about 26 or so bags (all various sizes) all in a box, with extra paper to make up the space

I order from them all the time and never have problems with quality. Even the past crops are good. I have never received any damaged product either but I would think they would make it up to you if you told them.

The quality of the hops has always been great, which is why i keep going back despite the shipping issue (0 for 3 now). They've made me whole in the past, but i don't have a lot of spare time in my life now to be screwing around with the time it takes to send a few e-mails to get things straightened out.

One of the packages that was punctured i re-sealed with my vac sealer, and i'm sad to say it's the first batch of hops i've ever had in all my brewing years that smelled like CHEESE! Gonna send them to the trash bin. Hopefully there aren't any more like this!