Washington's 2011 Hop crop and the 19th annual Hoptoberfest

Washington’s 2011 Hop crop and the 19th annual Hoptoberfest. I’m Lacy Gray, Washington Ag Today is next.

Good old Benjamin Franklin would be proud of Washington Hop Growers, they produced a whopping seventy-nine percent of the United States hop crop in 2011. Four leading variety favorites accounted for forty-nine percent of the State’s hop production, they were Zeus, Cascade, Columbus/Tomahawk, and Super Galena, though the overall hop production in Washington decreased two percent in 2011 from 2010. In celebration of all things Hop the Annual “Hoptoberfest”, hosted by the American Hop Museum, will be held this Friday, January 6, from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m.at the Modern Living Building, State Fair Park, in Yakima, WA, following the Washington Hop Growers Annual Meeting January 6th in conjunction with the Yakima Ag Expo at the State Fair Park SunDome. Tom Sauve with the American Hop Museum shares the reason behind the Hoptoberfest celebration.

SAUVE: This is nineteen years of Hoptoberfest and what we celebrate at the event is the microbrew business and hops that the microbrew business consumes. The Hoptoberfest is a fund raiser for the American Hop Museum, the only totally dedicated hop museum in the U.S. The general public can come to this event...this is the only event where people can come and shake a hand with a hop grower.

For more information visit their website at americanhopmuseum.org.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Ag Information Network.