OK, now I'm a little stressed.

[Brewtopia]

As many of you know, and many of you may not, I am opening a commercial brewery in the Seattle area along with sometimes HBT poster Get Your Brew On. My major concern right now is the shortage of hops. I just found out from Hop Union, that there are 150 breweries on their waiting list that do not have hop contracts. I am driving to to Yakima this Friday with Tom Munoz, head brewer at Stix to meet with Ralph Woodall about the likelihood of getting the hops we're going to need to proceed.

Perhaps I should rethink our business plan and specialize in Belgian beer styles in order to cut back on our hop needs.

This is both the best and worst of times to open a brewery. On one hand, the craft beer market has never been stronger, on the other hand ingredients has never been in shorter supply.

Wish us luck.

 

[olllllo]

Give 'em Hell.

 

[Ryanh1801]

Best of luck, Hopefully I can get up there to give ya some business sometime.

 

[landhoney]

Perhaps I should rethink our business plan and specialize in Belgian beer styles in order to cut back on our hop needs.
Wish us luck.

There are worse things in the world than having to resort to that . I hope everything works out amazingly for you. Like olllllo said, give em hell.

 

[McKBrew]

Hope it works out. Maybe I need to look at a second career in hop farming when I retire from the Navy. Discounts for HBT members!!!

 

[RoaringBrewer]

That is awesome... Don't stop chasing that dream; a hop shortage can be overcome somehow, someway... a crushed dream can not...

Will definitely find my way to your brewpub at some point, on business...

Good luck!!

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Saweet! Good luck man. Looks like I'm going to have to visit my brother in Seattle a little more often! When is everything gonna be up an running?

 

[Tenchiro]

It is a good season to supplement with a cider too.

 

[LouT]

I wonder if the "hop shortage" is just like the "bee scare". Prices went up, but those with money had no problem actually getting the bees they needed (polination of crops, if you're not familiar with the "rental" of bees.).

Input costs will go up, so margin will suffer or volume will suffer if you have to price accordingly. Looks like all the micros have gone up, at least in my area, over the last 6 months.
Allagash brewing up in Maine seems to get away with the "premium price for a premium product" business philosophy. Maybe you can change your biz plan a bit and go for a low volume high margin product -- this usually helps keep overhead low, too -- less equipment, manpower, square footage needed, etc...
Best of luck -- there's NOTHING like starting your own business and growing it and living/eating/breathing it!

 

[dibby33]

Time to start gardening! Are you in a location suitable for hop growing? I live in Tasmania where I think most of the hops for Australian beers are grown about 10 miles from where I live. Must take a drive down there this weekend!!!

 

[Melana]

Good luck. if we're ever up your way you have our business. Sell your beer in growlers to the east coast and you've got me!

 

[Brewtopia]

This article appeared in the local paper today.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/335704_hops17.html

 

[DeathBrewer]

i say you go for less hoppy beers no matter what. I'd sure support you if you had some nice malty belgian beers, some german-style hefeweizens...irish ales...mmmm...

 

[Bulls Beers]

I wish you lots of success..

I'm new to homebrewing, but is this hop shortage common or just a bad year?

 

[TheJadedDog]

Not to add more concern to your problem, but according to my lhbs, Hop Union is not accepting new contract customers at this point and for those it has on contract, it is requiring that they order and pay for their entire 2008 hops by January 1. I know my lhbs is stressing that second part because he has a limited ability to forecast how many new customers to expect in the coming year (many of his regular customers are bulk buying now so he can factor us out of the equation).

Good luck in your meeting with those guys; hopefully you can work something out.

 

[Dude]

Wow, congrats 'topia!

Do you need someone to clean out your mashtun?

Best of luck!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to buy it!

 

[jdoiv]

Good luck Brewtopia.

FYI, the article I read said that new hop vines take 3 years to mature. Figure on 4-5 years before you see the market start to loosen. From what I read, there was only one or two really bad things that happened to the crops this year and that most of this is caused by a depletion of previous pellet supplies and less acreage being farmed.

 

[sause]

Congrats man!! I would definitly try to make beers that really depend of differnt fermentation processes rather than try to compete with the always increasing hopping up beers. Now will you have oak barrels at your brewery? And will you need cheap labor?

 

[Jeff48]

Consider brewing some non-hop beers. We were very nicely surprised when our Pictish Ale turned out really very drinkable. Heather blossoms provide an interesting flavor.

 

[WOP31]

Thats awesome that you are living the dream brewtopia, Keep us up on the progress, i may be in seattle the begining of next year, I'll drop a line if I am out that way.


Cheers

 

[Llarian]

Unfortunatly, this is an area where most serious brewpubs have half or more of their beers as hoppy varities. Its not uncommon to see 2 IPAs, a DIPA, and a couple hoppy APAs from a brewery with only 8 varieties on tap...

I wish you luck man. Let us know when you're open, I'll come have some beers! =)

-D

 

[mcaustin]

Definitely post up when and where, and I'll be by to

Austin

 

[Flipper]

Likewise! I am down in Seattle all the time. Can't wait to stop in for some brews.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

You know I wish you nothing but the best, BT. If anyone deserves to succeed in the brewing business it's you. You're an inspiration to us all.

 

[Pabst Blue Robot]

And to think the Puyallup valley used to be one big hop farm. Best of luck with your business plan, once it's off the ground I'll do my part to keep it in the air.