Hop Wire Blog
Vox&Hops: Brewtal North America
Yakima Chief Hops, just like the rest of the beer industry, is packed with metalheads. So when Matt McGachy, the vocalist of metal band Cryptopsy and host of the Vox&Hops Metal Podcast, came to us with his idea to pair metal breweries with metal bands for a...
Field Report – June 2021
Reporting from a Citra® yard, the Citra® plant is about ripe for where we would expect it to be right now. This yard was trained about a month ago so all of the growth is the result of 4 weeks of plant growth. If you go back six or seven weeks, this yard was burned...
Fish Have Feelings
Contributed by Ashleigh Hayden - YCH Field Marketing Manager & Levi Wyatt - Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator As a grower-owned hop supplier, we understand the importance of water. Eighty percent of the hops grown in the United States use...
2021 Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day: Hold Out Brewing
Written by: Ashleigh Hayden, YCH's Field Marketing Manager With over 300 breweries purchasing the 4th Annual Pink Boots Blend and sharing their stories with us over social media, we are amazed and humbled by the creativity and passion shown by women across the...
2020 Crop Production Complete
We are pleased to announce that we officially wrapped up pellet production of 2020 crop on February 4th, setting a new production record for YCH! Yakima Chief Hops receives roughly one third of the hops grown in the United States from its network of growers located...
2021 Chief Commitments
While 2020 was a year of extraordinary challenges, it was also a watershed year for sustainability. 2020 brought the COVID-19 pandemic, put a spotlight on deep social challenges, and saw the global economy contract. Although we are not quite out of the clear in...
Our Response to COVID-19
We understand that the coronavirus has largely impacted small, consumer-based businesses like yours the most, leaving many of you uncertain of what the future holds. We see our brewing customers getting creative and working hard to promote sales in any way they...
Brew Something Bigger than Beer this Giving Tuesday
Amidst the rush of flash sales, hot deals and holiday shopping, #GivingTuesday reminds us to press pause and give back. Giving Tuesday is an internationally recognized holiday dedicated to finding ways that we can better our communities through charitable giving –...
Cascade, Centennial & the Importance of Contracting
Cascade and Centennial are two of the most classic American hop varieties and have played important roles in the history of craft beer. Arguably seen as the foundational varieties of the craft beer movement, even as new varieties emerge, they are still strong...
Tips for Your 2020 Learn to Homebrew Day
Contributed by Denny Conn from Experimental Homebrewing. Keeping the Homebrew Community Spirit Alive Learn to Homebrew Day was established by the American Homebrewers Association in 1999 to help promote the hobby of homebrewing by having experienced brewers teach...
Introducing the YCH Mobile Lot Lookup App
Yakima Chief Hops invites its brewing partners to enjoy a new way of viewing, organizing and storing their hop data, digitally, with the YCH Mobile Lot Lookup App. This custom app allows brewers the ability to easily access valuable information regarding their hop...
September 2020 – Week 4 Harvest Update
The 2020 hop harvest in the Pacific Northwest is almost complete. Every harvest has its challenges and this one was no different. It began with unseasonably warm temperatures followed by a devastating Labor Day windstorm that kept yields from hitting their full...
Hop Research Update: Atmospheric Smoke and Hops
As many know, we source the majority of our hops from independent family farms from across the Pacific Northwest including Oregon, Washington and Idaho. These areas have sadly become known for seasonal wildfires that weigh heavy on our local communities as well as...
September 2020 – Week 3 Harvest Update
Hop growers across the Pacific Northwest welcomed clear skies and wonderful weather over the weekend as smoke from wildfires on the West Coast lifted, improving air quality and providing ideal weather conditions for the beginning of the last week of hop harvest....
September 2020 – Week 2 Harvest Update
Hop harvest is in the home stretch run in the Pacific Northwest. In the aftermath of the Labor Day windstorm, the entire region has suffered from poor air quality as smoke from the fires up and down the west coast has contributed to cooler temperatures, but...
September 2020 Harvest Update
It’s Labor Day for most of the nation. For those of us with hops in our blood, we are at the mercy of a rapidly ripening hop crop. We salute all of our employees on the farms as well as our handling crews for their dedication in getting the crop harvested and in...
Introducing Talus™ Brand HBC 692
Experimental hop HBC 692 has a fancy new brand name as it becomes the newest commercial release from Hop Breeding Company. Talus™, a word that represents the sloped features of rocky terrain, pays homage to the rich mountainous landscape of the Pacific Northwest...
The Largest Solar Array in Washington
We are pleased to announce that we have completed our latest solar panel installation, which has made us the company with the largest rooftop solar array in Washington! Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are fortunate to experience longer days with ample sunshine,...
In the Lup™ Series
Over the years, the hop and brewing industries have come together over their shared passion for innovation, inspiring one another to push the envelope on flavor, quality and efficiency. This often results in ground breaking products and solutions that soon...
August 2020 Harvest Update
The 2020 hop harvest has begun. Needless to say, it has been a challenging year for brewers, hop growers, and the world in general, as we have navigated our way through lock downs, safety protocols, and anxiety created by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the hops are...
2020 Veterans Blend Now Available for Pre-sale!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE YAKIMA, Wash., July 4, 2020 – Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), a 100% grower-owned hop supplier, has launched the pre-sale of the 2020 Veterans Blend, an annual hop product that helps to support United States veterans. The Veterans Blend is available...
Return to Grower: Investing in Quality and Sustainability
At Yakima Chief Hops, we take pride in being a 100% grower owned hop supplier. But what does that really mean, to be “grower owned?” By definition, it means that our organization is owned by 15 hop growers from across the Pacific Northwest who help to make...
Yakima Chief Hops Supports Black is Beautiful
At Yakima Chief Hops, we recognize and embrace the diversity of not only the hop and brewing industry but of our global communities. We recognize the color of peoples’ skin and the injustices they face because of it. We recognize that this is a systemic issue that...
Bringing Hop Harvest to You
As a grower owned company, the harvest season is the heart of Yakima Chief Hops. It's the time of year when we truly get the opportunity to live and breathe our mission of connecting family hop farms to brewers, as we invite customers from all over the world to...
YCH Welcomes New CFO Howard Allred
YAKIMA, Wash., May 27, 2020 – Yakima Chief Hops, a 100% grower-owned hop supplier, welcomed new Chief Financial Officer Howard Allred shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak began. Effective March 23, Allred’s onboarding came at a crucial time, as breweries shut their...
2020 Veterans Blend Selection
This month we hosted our very first virtual blend selection – allowing us to continue with our 2020 Veterans Blend selection alongside brewer participants. With the help of our talented sensory and product teams, we put together some awesome selection kits,...
YCH Presents $117k Contribution to PBS Scholarship Fund
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE YAKIMA, Wash., May 5, 2020 – Last week Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), a global hop supplier for craft brewers, announced this year’s contribution to Pink Boots Society (PBS) alongside distributor partner Country Malt Group (CMG). During a virtual...
All Together: A Worldwide Collaboration
In these unpredictable and challenging times, our brewing community is taking the hardest hit. Facing government restrictions and new health guidelines, the repercussions are felt right down to the families of servers, bartenders and dishwashers. For the past...
Empowered to Brew: 2020 Pink Boots Blend
Since 2018, the YCH Pink Boots Blend has helped to ignite a movement among the brewing community, shining a spotlight on women in beer and empowering them to be a force in the industry. Each year, Yakima Chief Hops and Pink Boots Society collaborate on an annual hop...
COVID-19 Grower Update
The COVID-19 outbreak has raised some concerns amongst the brewing community regarding the 2020 hop growing season. As an organization with a mission to connect family farms with the world’s finest brewers, we want to keep you updated on what is happening in the...
YCH and Bale Breaker Host Brew Day for First Responders and Military Veterans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE YAKIMA, Wash., March 4, 2020 – Yakima Chief Hops, a global hop supplier, in partnership with Bale Breaker Brewing Company, hosted a special brew day for a group of local first responders and military veterans on Feb. 13, 2020 in Yakima,...
Introducing the YCH Aged Hops Program
The concept of using Aged Hops is a tradition as old as brewing itself. As the industry becomes more competitive than ever, we recognize the brewers that are embracing tradition as a way to stand out. We seek to support these efforts by forming our Aged Hops...
Supporting Brewers of Resilience Beer
In support of the Resilience Beer for Bushfire Relief, Yakima Chief Hops is currently offering a discount to Australian and US breweries participating in this charitable beer project. The discount applies to the hops being used in this special beer...
Grower Perspectives: Veterans Blend
Inspired by our own military Veteran employees, Yakima Chief Hops launched their annual community hop blend, the Veterans Blend, in 2018. Each year, YCH collaborates with military Veteran brewers representing multiple branches of the US Armed Forces to...
Give Back, Give Thanks
At Yakima Chief Hops, giving back to our communities is part of our core culture. It is something that our employees are passionate about and take pride in doing. As part of our corporate social responsibility initiative, we created the YCH Give Back program to...
Hop Chats: HBC 472
Contributed by: Tommy Yancone, YCH Technical Brewer Yakima Chief Hops maintains a strong partnership with Yakima Chief Ranches, an organization that works to develop new hop varieties to give you even more options when brewing beer. The YCR breeding program is...
PNW Crop Report: October 2019
The 2019 Pacific Northwest hop harvest is officially over as the crop is either in cold storage or various stages of processing and shipping on its way to brew kettles across the planet. Weather cooperated for most of the harvest although a freak storm just prior...
Fresh Hops in Korea
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a 100% grower owned supplier is the ability to bring hops from the family farms of the Pacific Northwest to brewers across the world. We form strategic partnerships with global distributors so that brewers can have...
Cryo Hops® Pellets – Now Available in 5 New Varieties
Yakima Chief Hops officially released Cryo Hops® pellets three years ago, and it quickly became the talk of the commercial brewing community as customers put the new product to the test – discovering its capabilities in terms of flavor enhancements, efficiency...
Triumph – A New Public Variety
In the hop industry, we tend to focus on the processes from “field to pint,” but there’s a lot of work that takes place before a hop variety ever reaches the field. Behind the scenes, breeders and growers spend time, energy and resources on choosing hops that benefit...
Sustainable Agriculture Tour
Yakima Chief Hops played tour guide out at Perrault Farms to 15 members of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform from around the globe. Read more about how Yakima Chief Hops encourages advancement in sustainable agricultural practices and how farms...
Sour-Bro: A Dry Hopped Kettle Sour
To showcase the versatility and unique aromatic capabilities of many popular hop varieties, our Technical Solutions team has set out to experiment with a few less common techniques and beer styles. New proprietary varieties such as Loral® and Sabro™ have a lot of...
YCH Brings Women in Beer Together to Create Annual Hop Blend
YCH’s Pink Boots Blend has become a well-known movement in the hop community, as brewers from all over the world incorporate this hop blend into beer recipes each year, in celebration and support of women in the brewing industry. For Pink Boots Society (PBS)...
PNW CROP REPORT: SEPTEMBER 2019
The hop harvest in the Pacific Northwest is progressing well. Cool weather has allowed for an orderly ripening of the crop and most growers have been able to hit their optimum picking windows resulting in excellent overall quality. Light rain showers in Washington...
One-pound packaging now available on the Yakima Chief Hops spot market
One-pound packaging in select products & varieties are now available for purchase. Log in and find your one-pound package size under the Spot Market tab.Yakima Chief Hops is proud to support the needs of all breweries, big and small. We are...
Yakima Chief Hops Welcomes Four New Family Farms to its Ownership
(From left to right) John Coleman of Coleman Ag; Jessica Riel of Double 'R' Hop Ranches; Ben St. Mary of Black Star Ranches; Brenton Roy of Oasis Farms Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) welcomes four additional family farms to its list of grower-owners, the first time...
Grower Perspectives: Organic Hop Farming
"Organic farming for me is more connecting. The raw emotions of farming are more pronounced. I must be on purpose with and open to what mother nature tells me." -Michael Roy, Roy Farms At Yakima Chief Hops, we are committed to serving every niche corner of...
PNW Crop Report: August 2019
August has arrived and hop harvest is just around the corner in the Pacific Northwest. After a late Spring snow melt, the weather has been relatively mild and conducive to good hop growing. So far, all regions have been able to avoid prolonged periods of heat...
Tour de Oregon
Yakima Chief Hops Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator, Levi Wyatt, recently took a tour of the Oregon hop and brewing communities, visiting family hop farms and regional breweries throughout the state. Read more about some of the Oregon hops farms that...
A Mild Cluster Fugget
At the 2019 Homebrew Con, the YCH team handed out more than 800 samples of our latest homebrew exclusive hop blend, Cluster Fugget. While the name might suggest otherwise, we’ve intentionally created this aroma-packed blend with historically significant Pacific...
PNW Crop Report: July 2019
It’s July in the Pacific Northwest and it’s hard to believe that harvest will begin next month. Overall baby yields are expected to be down due to late snow cover in March in Washington that prevented growers from digging roots and delayed planting beyond...
Brewery Perspectives: 2019 Veterans Blend
Inspired by our own military Veteran employees, Yakima Chief Hops launched their annual community hop blend, the Veterans Blend, in 2018. Each year, a group of military Veteran employees from YCH along with military Veteran brewers representing multiple...
New blend release for homebrewers — Cluster Fugget™
Yakima Chief Hops is known for creating inventive and exciting hop blends, whether they are designed to increase brewing efficiency, achieve specific characteristics and/or give back to a mission-driven nonprofit organization. One evening during a...
YCH announces Bale Breaker’s newest release, Mango IPA
Yakima Chief Hops staff member, Victoria Garza, invites you to learn more about the story behind the popular Mango IPA, from conception to collaboration, and what this tasty brew means to the hop community. The third series of the Mango IPA in Yakima is...
Employee Perspectives: 2018 Veterans Blend
This month, Yakima Chief Hops is proud to deliver a check to Semper Fi Fund, thanks to the brewers that have purchased and brewed with our 2018 Veterans Blend. This exclusive hop blend was a collaborative effort of many YCH employees and brewers, all with a...
2019 Pink Boots Blend Released
Yakima Chief Hops is thrilled to release its 2nd Annual Pink Boots Blend, alongside the Pink Boots Society, an international nonprofit organization supporting women in the brewing profession. Available for a limited time to commercial brewers, this seasonal...
September 25, 2018: PNW Crop Report
Most growers are in their final week of hop harvest and the weather remains cool and dry in most regions. The Oregon crop is mostly harvested and in cold storage. The weather forecast looks favorable for the next few days and many in the industry believe this year...
2018 Veterans Blend
Our 2018 Veterans Blend was hand-selected by a group of veteran-owned breweries from across the US, representing multiple branches of the US Armed Forces. The blend is comprised of five different Pacific Northwest-grown varieties, providing a beautiful mix of...
September 17, 2018: PNW Crop Report
A bit of rain made harvest last week a bit challenging for our Oregon growers, but the cool dry weather prevailed over the rest of the Pacific Northwest contributing to orderly ripening and generally excellent quality. A light, cold wind blew across the Yakima Valley...
September 10, 2018: PNW Crop Report
Cool, but dry weather across the Pacific Northwest has contributed to excellent ripening and harvest conditions. Alpha analyses on early picked aroma hops appear to be down slightly from long-term averages. This trend does not correlate necessarily with alpha...
Baled Out: The Ahtanum® Story
SHOP AHTANUM® BRAND Much like the art of brewing, there is a unique craft to growing hops. It involves many different techniques and processes to ensure things such as harvest quality, varietal purity, and a healthy yield. Hop growers must pay close attention...
September 3, 2018: PNW Hop Crop Report
Weather continues to cooperate with PNW hop growers as temperatures have been in the 80’s so far and the weather report calls for cool and dry temperatures for the next week or so, also. All growers are now picking hops in all growing regions and quality appears to...
Hop Valley’s Bubble Stash: A precursor to today’s juicy IPAs
By PETER FROST from MillerCoors Seven years ago in Eugene, Ore., Patrick Whiting of Hop Valley Brewing brewed his first batch of beer using a novel form of hops largely unknown among brewers, let alone used in the brewing process. Swapping out the ubiquitous...
Hop Harvest Report: August 2018
Hop harvest has begun in the Pacific Northwest with many growers starting in all three states. Most growers in Oregon have started harvest and are picking what appears to be a good quality crop. Centennial yields are disappointing, but early picked Cascade yields are...
From Field to Ferment, our experts discuss previous crop years
Yakima Chief Hops is on the hunt for some of today’s leading industry myths. With ongoing speculation surrounding the current state and future of hops, Yakima Chief Hops is committed to transparency regarding the rumor that hops from prior crop years are of poorer,...
PNW Hop Crop Report: July 2018
For the most part, weather has cooperated in the Pacific Northwest to produce what appears to be a normal 2018 hop crop. The irrigation reservoirs have adequate water supply and pest pressure appears to manageable in most regions. Triple digit temperatures currently...
BRITISH HOPS ON SALE, IN TIME FOR THE ROYAL WEDDING
This spring, we were thrilled to learn that our Simcoe® brand hop products had a starring role in a special Pale Ale brewed in celebration of the upcoming royal wedding between Prince Henry of Wales and Meghan Markle. Windsor & Eton Brewery, based in the United...
FALSE: YAKIMA CHIEF HAS AN OVERSUPPLY OF HOPS
Yakima Chief Hops is on the hunt for some of today’s leading industry myths. With ongoing speculation surrounding the current state and future of hops, Yakima Chief Hops is committed to transparency regarding the rumor that Yakima Chief Hops has a significant...
Homebrewing with Cryo Hops®
By Denny Conn | Homebrew Author, co-host and enthusiast Sometimes you see something and think to yourself, “Ya know, this is astoundingly cool! This could change everything. How the hell did they ever think of this?” Well, that was pretty much my reaction when I first...
Pink Boots Blend Released
Yakima Chief Hops and the Pink Boots Society, a global nonprofit organization supporting women in the brewing profession, are thrilled to announce the release of an exclusive hop blend to celebrate women in the beer and brewing industry. This proprietary hop blend...
2017 Crop Summary
The 2017 Pacific Northwest hop harvest is complete and processing facilities have been busy preparing the crop for brew kettles across the globe. The crop can be characterized as a good one with adequate yields to fill contracts and overall exceptional quality. In...
BREWERY PERSPECTIVES: CRYO HOPS® IN CALIFORNIA
At Yakima Chief, we believe that with any new product release, it is important to moderate hype with measurable data and real customer feedback. So while our Twitter feed and Instagram account were being flooded with double tap love over the release of the Cryo Hops®...
Brewery Perspectives with C02 Hop Extract
For Tree House Brewing Company of Monson, MA, what began as a bootstrapped, 60 barrel-per-year, garage operation between friends has grown to a complete brewing and retail facility with capacity for 175,000 barrels per year. Tree House has become one of the nation’s...
