Stan Hieronymus

There are hops in abundance, but beer sales are unpredictable—it’s no mystery why many small breweries are relying on the spot market. Yet many suppliers are aiming to lure brewers back to more flexible contracts that better suit today’s market.

Having a sensory panel to regularly evaluate your beer is good practice—but what about one to evaluate your hops? Brewers and hop-sensory experts share their best tips on starting up a specialized panel—and careful hop evaluation is something that even the smallest breweries can do.

Research into the aroma compounds that best survive the brewing process—and which hops are high in them—has changed how brewers add hops to their IPAs and other beers. As more research emerges, so do more opportunities to improve hop aroma.

With hop harvest behind us, now is the time to find unique new varieties (before everybody else knows their names).

While the numbers are far from final, there were modest steps toward rebalancing the market for U.S. aroma hops. Centennial and Simcoe had a rough year, while rain helped Germany and Czechia avoid a second consecutive disastrous harvest.

The art of hop blending is getting a nudge from science. Research from Great Britain and Japan identifies hops and compounds that work better when they’re together—and they can also simulate the profiles of more sought-after varieties.

Growers have reduced acreage, but that’s only part of a complex story. As the 2023 harvest approaches, balancing the market means reducing surpluses and figuring out how to do a better job of measuring true demand.

As small-scale brewers warm up to products once viewed as industrial shortcuts, the options continue to widen, and knowledge about how best to use them only deepens.

In a market with no room for error, neither is there room for avoidable off-flavors—including diacetyl and other issues caused by hop creep. Research continues into its causes and how best to avoid or eliminate it before beer leaves the brewery.

The 2022 harvest in Central Europe was historically bad, but the Pacific Northwest also had an off-year, with aromas of many varieties more muted than usual. Here’s how to make adjustments so you can brew the best beer from what you’ve got.