Hops

[sroach01]

What is your favorite variety of hops, I grow several varieties, by next year i will have a half acre of fuggle, after that a full acre or two, I grow cascade, fuggle, mt hood, chinook, East Kentgoldings (kentgoldings) Perle.

 

[basilchef]

citra, amarillo, nugget and willamette top my list : )

 

[gcdowd]

Amarillo, cascade, chinook, centennial, Columbus, and EKG. I've yet to try citra but have heard good things.

 

[unionrdr]

I like all the ones you mentioned,plus stirling,columbus,nugget,amarillo,cascade for starters.

 

[H-Balm]

Geez... you're talking acres!

Good for you, must be quite busy at harvest!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

So..... you live on a hops farm?!

My faves are amarillo, Simcoe, columbus, cascade, EKG, fuggle, centennial, willamette, and many more.... there's so many great ones out there to pick just a few.

 

[wfowlks]

On a side note, do you sell your hops when you harvest them, since you have so much?

 

[Jay1]

Citra, Simcoe Centennial

 

[TopherM]

Citra, Simcoe, and Amarillo are all petented, trademarked varieties, so it would be illegal to grow them yourself.

I personally am VERY MUCH against the ability to trademark life, but the fact is that if the owners of these hop patents find you growing them, they will sue you into oblivion, as is their right under patent law.

 

[rifraf]

Wow I can see going after you for selling them, but just growing? Patent law in this country is dumb sometimes

 

[Clanchief]

Wow I can see going after you for selling them, but just growing? Patent law in this country is dumb sometimes

The problem is that that is part of the nature of patent law. If you find one person breaking your patent, and you do nothing, then legally it becomes easier for others to do the same. Is it silly to force a company to go after people using things like that for non-commercial use? Yes. Is it the reality of the law? Yes.

 

[rifraf]

The problem is that that is part of the nature of patent law. If you find one person breaking your patent, and you do nothing, then legally it becomes easier for others to do the same.

Yeah I understand this, which is why Disney goes after daycares that put characters on their walls but this feels like going after parents who paint Mickey on their own kid's wall. Shame it has to be like that

 

[bobbrews]

but the fact is that if the owners of these hop patents find you growing them, they will sue you into oblivion, as is their right under patent law.

So get ahold of some Citra, grow it, call it Snickelfritz, and no one will ever know. I don't see that this is a problem unless you're a commercial farmer who is selling to the public.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

My two favorite hops right now are Northern Brewer and Centennial.

 

[TopherM]

The whole genetic patent law comes out of the Monsanto soybean lobby in the early 2000s. Watch a documentary on that situation sometime and you will be AMAZED at how jacked up the whole thing is. Genetic patent is a bit out of control since it was introduced about 10 years ago, and really really needs some reform.

Monsanto puts genetic markers in their soybeans so that they can protect their patent EVEN in crossbred varieties of their original patents. They have effectively put smaller competitors out of business by growing their crop close enough to competitor's fields that their crop's pollen blows onto the competitor's fields, even from miles away. They then sue their competitors into oblivion once they can show that their patented genetic markets appear in their competitors' crop.

Yes, this sounds absolutely unethical and unbelievable, but YES, time after time the courts have upheald Monsanto's patent even in these cases of "accidental" cross pollenation. They now supply the majority of soybeans and other staple crops to the entire country, mostly through their tricky use of genetic patent law.

I doubt the hops growers are that aggressive, but it is well within their rights as the patent holders!