Hallertau Hop fields destroyed

Last Monday night until Tuesday morning massive thunderstorms swept
over North-Western Europe. They were joined by serious hail fall.
These storms caused a lot of damage and threw traffic into turmoil.
But the most sad result of these storms is that it looks like most of
Hallertau Hop fields have been completely wiped away. Staff of
Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephaner, who live throughout the
area, have all reported the complete destruction of hop fields in the
region.

As I soon as I get pictures of the damage done I will send them over,
but eye witnesses say it's worse than what they have ever seen in
their lives. Storms have caused damage before, but never of this
magnitude. It also seems to be too late to start a second try at
growing new plants – generally the hop harvest in Hallertau starts mid
to late August.

What this may mean for your and our industry is pretty clear. Let's
pray the first damage estimates prove pessimistic, and that some of
the harvest and plants could be saved. But for now, the situation
seems serious enough so prepare yourselves brewers.

ugh...I can't decide if I want to see pics of this or not...

mrkristofo said:

ugh...I can't decide if I want to see pics of this or not...

Click to expand...

Don't click this link
Bildübersicht - donaukurier.de | Meine Heimat

Oy. That looks horrible. What a heart breaker.

Yikes- Looks like I'm subbing Mt Hood in my recipes again next year. *sigh*..........

This is pretty early in the growing season. I would not be surprised to see the plants rebound. Harvest may be down...but not out.

May be time to place an order and freeze some of this hop. I use it in my amber ale and was looking at tweaking the recipe to get it more hoppy.

Oh dear. What a pisser.

Noooooooooooo!

Guys, there is not need to sub... even if the hops are destroyed. Go to Hops Direct or something and grab a pound for like $17... then you are good to go. That is A LOT less than the LHBS will be charging regardless of the crops.

The Pol said:

Guys, there is not need to sub... even if the hops are destroyed. Go to Hops Direct or something and grab a pound for like $17... then you are good to go. That is A LOT less than the LHBS will be charging regardless of the crops.

Click to expand...

I actually did this Wednesday, so I think I'm covered.

We are talking here about the 2010 shipments, not 2009. For this year it is all good, prices probably go up for fall/next year

Maybe its because there is nothing to scale against but those plants look pretty small to me maybe 3-4'? If these are established plants they can put that back out in a couple weeks with good conditions.

That's some serious damage.

Just so we'll have some future reference: as of today Hops Direct is selling whole-leaf Hallertau (GR) @ $20/lb.

Does this crop damage include Mittlefruh?

Halaster said:

May be time to place an order and freeze some of this hop. I use it in my amber ale and was looking at tweaking the recipe to get it more hoppy.

Click to expand...

If you want to go more "hoppy", I suggest a different hop entirely. Hallertauer isn't exactly known for it's bitterness qualities.

SpanishCastleAle said:

Just so we'll have some future reference: as of today Hops Direct is selling Hallertau (GR) @ $20/lb.

Click to expand...

Pellet for $17.50!

Things may pan out. AB-Inbev is reported as wanting out of their contracts for the Hallertau, as well as some others. All those hop will go back into market if the proposal takes.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Things may pan out. AB-Inbev is reported as wanting out of their contracts for the Hallertau, as well as some others. All those hop will go back into market if the proposal takes.

Click to expand...

Or they'll just slash the acerage alloted to those varieties.

The Pol said:

Pellet for $17.50!

Click to expand...

Dammit I meant to specify whole leaf in my post. Post above edited.

BreckBastion and I are splitting an order of 1lb each of these to split after seeing this hopefully it'll be here soon :rockin:

Hallertau(German)
Centennial
Fuggle (US)
Perle

Poor little guys...

Charlie Papazian writes about the storm in the Beer Examiner.

It sounds like it might not be as catastrophic as it first appeared. Quick quote - "The total effect to the German crop could be in the neighbourhood of 15% or close to 5000 metric tons. Hop merchant John I Haas is reporting that they do not predict another hop shortage for crop 2009 at this point. "

This should affect next years price for those specific hops I would guess. Good thing I have 25lbs of mittlefruh on hand:rockin:

25lbs? You really need that much?

Displaced MassHole said:

25lbs? You really need that much?

Click to expand...

Yes. Yes I do.

That should last me about 5 to 6 brews. I make a lot at a time these days.

Reverend JC said:

Yes. Yes I do.

That should last me about 5 to 6 brews. I make a lot at a time these days.

Click to expand...

What do you do with all that beer? Bathe in it?


Actually, that doesn't sound so crazy now that I typed it.

haha beer bath sounds good

but that would completely drop lagers off my charts... too cold, too much shrinkage