Hop Quality Trend

[theheadonthedoor]

I know my last post caused quite the debate, so I am not trying to pissed anyone off here, I am just curious if anyone else has experienced poor hop quality through certain vendors, farms, sites, etc? And if they have experienced better quality through others?

I like living close to Yakima Valley and the folks at Yakima Valley Hops are great guys, but I've noticed quite the decline in quality of the hops I've received over the last couple years. It could be that I'm just by chance getting hops that tend to be weak that year, as it does occur, but since the hops I purchased in 2015 were Mosaic, Citra, Galaxy, Chinook, Calypso, Amarillo, Centennial and Ella and for 2016 were Simcoe, Columbus, Summit, Sterling, and Bravo, I doubt that to be the case.

All hops I have are stores in a deep freezer. So I doubt that is the case, too. Now, of course, it could be that I'm just a ****ty brewer. But herein lies the issue. Sometimes if I want to brew a beer with a hop I don't have, I'll purchase it elsewhere. This occured with a Mosaic saison and a Citra DIPA this year and most recently a NWPA red ale with Cascade and Centennial all from YCH. All these beers had a much more defined and brighter character.

It's not that any of the other hoppy beers made with the YVH hops were not hoppy and decent, it's just that all the flavors were muddled and off, even an all Simcoe IPA just tastes like generically hoppy citrus, fruits, and pine. And that was a hop that is very very distinct.

Any thoughts? I'd love to be wrong but I'm worried I'm getting the leftover hops or something. :\

-Adam Edwards

 

[bucketnative]

I had a very interesting conversation with a guy who owns a small brewery, and also happens to be a hop salesman. We started talking about Mosaic, as we were drinking one of their Mosaic-based ales. I remarked how their Mosaic hops were completely different than what I got from my latest batch. He said that was absolutely to be expected. As part of his job he has gone to the various farms and sampled the hops at harvest or on the vine. He said that Simcoe is his favorite hop, but that he has encountered Simcoe crops that varied so much: some were very piney, some were citrusy, and one that he swore was pure strawberry.
There's a hierarchy of hop consumers, and the quality is inversely proportional to your standing on the totem pole. The macro brewers get first dibs, kind of obviou$ why. They focus on consistency from batch-to-batch, if not year-to-year. They can't afford variability. They can also get their hands on the very best hops for new beers. The next one down are the micro brewers. They try to get consistent and flavorful hops, very near to the same quality as the big guys. Then you have nano brewers, like him. He said that they struggle with their batch-to-batch variability, because he never knows exactly how that batch of Simcoe will taste or smell. Sometimes it's lemons; and apparently sometimes it can even be berries. But, he said that their customers are not necessarily expecting consistency in that regard, and even enjoy the adventure, so he's OK with it. He came out of the micro-sized industry previously, so he has experienced the buying power of that class of brewer, and said it makes consistency so much easier. Finally, there's the homebrewers (1 oz to 16 oz consumers of hops). We get what's left.
And, no, even his position as a salesman doesn't get him any inside deals for consistent hop crops.

NOTE: Definition of quality for this post is more along the lines of that which is expected in manufacturing... consistency.