Article Updated: 9.23.24

7th Annual HOPSOURCE

When: September 24-26th, 2024 // 9-5 open house
Where: Yakima Valley Hops, 702 North 1st Ave
Why: Support the public breeding program and find the next great hop!

HOPSOURCE 2024

Hopsource is back for another year of smelling the best experimental hops from the public breeding program. Join us for three days, right in the heart of hop selection, and help to find the next great public hop variety.

“Hopsource and the brewer feedback it provides is absolutely critical for making selection decisions within the public hop breeding program." - Dr. Kayla Altendorf, USDA-ARS Hop Breeder

Hopsource is a collaborative effort between the Brewers Association (BA), the United State Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS), the Hop Research Council (HRC), and Yakima Valley Hops. Hopsource will feature top experimental varieties from the public breeding program's elite breeding line.

The sensory evaluation itself is quick and easy so it is a very small time commitment to pop in and out (less than 10 minutes per flight). Each sample is evaluated on a simple hedonistic scale from 1 to 10 based on how much each brewer likes or dislikes it. High level aroma descriptors, similar to the Barth-Haas Hop Aroma Standards Kit, such as citrus, sweet fruit, and floral are also recorded to get a basic understanding of how the hop presents.

Here is a great write up by Katie Fromuth, the Brewers Association Technical Brewing Projects Manager, about the 2022 Hopsource. The article also describes how the samples are prepared, rated, and ranked based on the Net Liking Score (NLS).

Each of the three days will feature two different flights of hop samples, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, so please attend as many sessions as possible. And since Hopsource is harnessing the power of crowd sourcing and big numbers, be sure to spread the word and bring as many fellow brewers as you can.

Brewer participation and feedback are essential parts of the public breeding program and more information on the goals and objectives can be found in this Brewers Association Collab Hour Presentation with speakers from the HRC and USDA-ARS.

Vista: Hopsource 2019 Alumn

Vista, previously known as USDA Elite Line 074, is the most recent variety to be released by the public breeding program and is the direct result of brewer's input from Hopsource 2019 sessions.

Vista rose to the top of the pack on the hedonistic score with most brewers reporting that they liked it "Very Much" or "Moderately". Vista also ranked 7/10 on the potency scale, with most brewers reporting that it would work well in fruit-forward styles like IPAs and Hazies, but it was still nicely balanced and not too overpowering. Most brewers at Hopsource 2019 reported that Vista had stone fruit, citrus, tropical fruit, and floral characteristics.

All of the brewer's positive feedback, combined with Vista's great agronomics put the variety on the fast track to full release and getting a proper name.

What variety will stand out at this year's Hopsource? Join us and find out! Hope to see you all there!