Lovely rows of hops in Yakima.
Lovely rows of hops in Yakima.

Just home from Yakima in eastern Washington and another successful Hops & Brew School put on by our friends at Hop Union!  The hop harvest is just starting to get into the swing of things and we were able to tour Loftus Ranches and the first of this year’s Simcoe hops coming out of the field.

Hop Union put on another great 2 days of lectures (with beer), tours of their facility and fields (also with beer) and an outstanding 100+ pound pig roast on the last night (yup, you guessed it).  This years attendance was just north of 100 brewers from all over the country including speakers from Sierra Nevada Brewing, Ninkasi Brewing, White Labs and our own Head of Malting Operations Dave Kuske!  Thanks to the entire crew at Hop Union for a great time.

200 pound bales in front of 15ft high piles of Simcoe hops in the baling room.
200-pound bales in front of 15ft high piles of Simcoe hops in the baling room.