Hop Shortage on 3 of my favorites. Boo!

Just got back from my local brew shop and the owner who's also a good friend said be ready for another hop shortage. His distributor said that a huge number of new craft beer contracts have created a massive shortage for Simcoe, Amarillo, and Chinook.

My shop which is always well stocked, won't be able to get any more in of these varieties. If you like these types (they are 3 of my favorites) I suggest you buy what you can now. They are going to be hard to find real soon.

BTW, Hops Direct also verified this when I talked with them today. None of the three are available there right now. Their new Amarillo crop is already gone.

what part of PA are you located in? I wonder if my LHBS is the same one. Are these the only varieties seeing a shortage?

anchorandoak said:

what part of PA are you located in? I wonder if my LHBS is the same one. Are these the only varieties seeing a shortage?

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I'll tell you after I go there today and buy up what they have left. Just kidding. I'm in NW PA over near Erie.

Thanks, going in tomorrow to buy what I can.

Lodovico said:

I'll tell you after I go there today and buy up what they have left. Just kidding. I'm in NW PA over near Erie.

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haha. i'm over in the NE, so no worries,...although I did just call your LHBS and have them ship me a bunch of simcoe, amarillo and chinook hops.

anchorandoak said:

haha. i'm over in the NE, so no worries,...although I did just call your LHBS and have them ship me a bunch of simcoe, amarillo and chinook hops.

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LOL.

I love those hops...this sux

Sorry for bring up an old post...its a shame that Simcoe appears to be gone pretty much everywhere...Hopsdirect still has some amarillo...

I hadn't heard anything about the chinook shortage. The third hop I heard there was a shortage for was citra (which sucks)... I might be able to deal with no amarillo. I might be able to deal with no citra...but not having both

I just received a delivery friday from Hops Direct that included a pound of Chinook...

I pre ordered some rhysomes friday as well, maybe I better try and get a ryhzome of amarillo and chinook

r8rphan said:

I just received a delivery friday from Hops Direct that included a pound of Chinook...

I pre ordered some rhysomes friday as well, maybe I better try and get a ryhzome of amarillo and chinook

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Amarillo is patented and only grown by one farmer.

weirdboy said:

Amarillo is patented and only grown by one farmer.

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Let me guess.. He's in Texas?

He may be the only grower, but he's not the only source to buy them.. I bought mine from Hops Direct...

I wasn't able to get Amarillo last week for a recipe I wanted to do. My LHBS even made an "Amarillo analogue" using half centennial and half cascade.

Oh well. I'll switch to English or German-style brews until this all settles out.

buy now and exacerbate the shortage!

r8rphan said:

Let me guess.. He's in Texas?

He may be the only grower, but he's not the only source to buy them.. I bought mine from Hops Direct...

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Wait I got confused.. I didn't buy any Amarillo.. I got Chinook from Hops Direct... I've been stocking up on hops for the last couple weeks, and I've had a few home brews...

Rebel Brewer has Amarillo in stock. 1.99 per oz though. Stuff's getting pretty tight in IPA hop land.

Edit to add: Chinook is also there at 1.89 per oz.

Yeah, we heard a longer list than that in the Seattle area. A message went out to a few of the brew clubs. This is only hearsay, but allegedly initially came from a rep of Hop Union which is the major distributor. The shortages are supposedly due to the increased demand as well as less than favorable growing condition last season.
Here is the list that went out to the clubs in Seattle in alphabetical order, not shortage order, for hops that are in some state of short supply.

Amarillo
Chinook
Citra
Crystal
Horizon
Liberty
Magnum
Northern Brewer
US Saaz
Simcoe
Sorachi Ace
Sterling
Warrior

So all but the extremely prevalent types of hops are in short supply...awesome. Time to buy rhizomes.

FarmhouseBrewing and Wholesalehops (both HBT vendors) have some. Farmhouse has Amarillo, Chinook, Simcoe, and Citra; all pellet. Wholesalehops has Amarillo and Chinook pellet (well, they did before I just ordered a pound of Amarillo).

I have 8 oz. of foodsaver-vacuum-packed whole leaf Simcoe that I'll part with, 2 each 4 oz bags, not breaking them. I don't really like Simcoe, I can sell or trade.

Great! Now we will end up with a relatively small number of folks with unnecessary huge amounts of these hops at home while the majority will not have any available to buy.

When there is a shortage of something, the last thing one wants to do is to encourage people to stock up. That's so selfish and irresponsible.

The only right way to deal with situations like this is to encourage people to rather look for alternatives and try to rationalize as much as possible until the situation normalizes.

Indyking said:

Great! Now we will end up with a relatively small number of folks with unnecessary huge amounts of these hops at home while the majority will not have any available to buy.

When there is a shortage of something, the last thing one wants to do is to encourage people to stock up. That's so selfish and irresponsible.

The only right way to deal with situations like this is to encourage people to rather look for alternatives and try to rationalize as much as possible until the situation normalizes.

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You do that while all these other guys are brewing the beers they want because they planned ahead It's not like we're talking about a non-renewable resource here! It's a plant, that will grow again this year.

I'm glad I just went through a pound by basically brewing only simcoe beers this past year. I'm burnt out on them for sure :mugs:

IrregularPulse said:

You do that while all these other guys are brewing the beers they want because they planned ahead It's not like we're talking about a non-renewable resource here! It's a plant, that will grow again this year.

I'm glad I just went through a pound by basically brewing only simcoe beers this past year. I'm burnt out on them for sure :mugs:

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Planning ahead? Sorry to hear that...

"To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly" Henri Bergson

"Those who have changed the universe have never done it by changing officials, but always by inspiring the people" Napoleon Boneparte

The only one on that list I use a lot of is magnum.. and maybe warrior in the future.. I think I'll buy another pound of magnum, and I have enough warrior for a while already..

I used Horizon during the last Hop Shortage when magnum was hard to get (or was it cascade)...

Pre-ordered a magnum rhizome (along with cascade, centennial, and willamette), will order another (or each).. although that will take a couple years before I will get enough harvest to make a dent..

Zen_Brew said:

Yeah, we heard a longer list than that in the Seattle area. A message went out to a few of the brew clubs. This is only hearsay, but allegedly initially came from a rep of Hop Union which is the major distributor. The shortages are supposedly due to the increased demand as well as less than favorable growing condition last season.
Here is the list that went out to the clubs in Seattle in alphabetical order, not shortage order, for hops that are in some state of short supply.

Amarillo
Chinook
Citra
Crystal
Horizon
Liberty
Magnum
Northern Brewer
US Saaz
Simcoe
Sorachi Ace
Sterling
Warrior

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Right but isn't there some kind of weird import restriction on hops in Washington state?

weirdboy said:

Right but isn't there some kind of weird import restriction on hops in Washington state?

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The quarantine restriction is on importing rhizomes. It is actually due to the fact that the plants are so important to Washingtons farming economy that they are attempting to avoid certain devastating pathogens from being imported into the state. There is no restriction on importing harvested hops in any form.

Again the info I got came from a homebrewer who heard it from a Hop Union rep. Hop Union is a conglomerate of growers with large storage facilities and distribution channels. Just because they identify a variety in short supply does not mean it will affect homebrewers. They sell to breweries and homebrew stores, so their vision of short supply may be "down to several thousand pounds".

I would note however that some of the hops on that list are already becoming scarce in the homebrew community. It is of course the varieties that are most popular amoung home and craft brewers. As they run out the secondary hops on that list may become scarce as they are used to substitute.

Yeah I know who Hop Union are. I don't really understand it. They have a massive shortage (which was understandable) a few years ago, then a huge overabundance last year, and now a shortage again? I mean I understand they don't have a lot of control over the weather, but maybe they ought to do something about controlling their friggin' supply chain just a bit.

SpanishCastleAle said:

FarmhouseBrewing and Wholesalehops (both HBT vendors) have some. Farmhouse has Amarillo, Chinook, Simcoe, and Citra; all pellet. Wholesalehops has Amarillo and Chinook pellet (well, they did before I just ordered a pound of Amarillo).

I have 8 oz. of foodsaver-vacuum-packed whole leaf Simcoe that I'll part with, 2 each 4 oz bags, not breaking them. I don't really like Simcoe, I can sell or trade.

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I bought up the last 20 oz of warrior that farmhouse had a week or so ago... wanted more...

Posted in another thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/2011-hop-shortage-218762/

Having the same problem:
Just got back from the LHBS and was informed there that they can't get Simcoe, Amarillo, Citra, Sorachi or Centennial. Their supplier wont have them back till November. I'm gonna have to go online and see where I can stock up on. Wasn't brewing during the first shortage. Some of those are staples in my brewing. Gonna have to reconfigure some recipes if I can't find 'em.

Any suggestions on substitutions, I haven't found a suitable substitution for Simcoe yet.

Wholesalehops has Amarillo. I just ordered a pound.

oh no! not amarillo

Is ahtanum a good amarillo sub or is cascade the closest?

thanks beernerd, never heard of wholesalehops before. good addition to my shopping sites. they have a limit of 2 lbs on amarillo but it'll take me a while to get through a pound. thanks man.

Lodovico said:

Just got back from my local brew shop and the owner who's also a good friend said be ready for another hop shortage. His distributor said that a huge number of new craft beer contracts have created a massive shortage for Simcoe, Amarillo, and Chinook.

My shop which is always well stocked, won't be able to get any more in of these varieties. If you like these types (they are 3 of my favorites) I suggest you buy what you can now. They are going to be hard to find real soon.

BTW, Hops Direct also verified this when I talked with them today. None of the three are available there right now. Their new Amarillo crop is already gone.

Click to expand...

Thank God it's nothing Noble! I was worried, if they were short on Hallertau or Saaz I was about to nuts!

Thanks for the heads up regardless and sorry for your potential loss