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Hops. Those little green flowers that bring so much joy to us, especially to APA and IPA lovers around the world. Lets take an illustrated journey through the world of Hops. Yes, we all know what makes a hop a hop, but what about the history, or how much is grown where?The Yakima Valley region in Washington quickly rose to being one the of top producers of hops in the US. This was because it was one of the few profitable crops that can grow in the area. Within Yakima Valley, Moxee city and Toppenish were the leaders in production by the 1920s, where there were over 1,200 acres dedicated to growing hops. That number more than tripled in twenty years, to 4,600 acres! That amounts to roughly 7.2 square miles.Today, Washington grows just over 32,000 acres of hops. Take a look at this infographic to show how the rest of the US (and Canada) stack up using 2015 acreage numbers.Back in the old days, when ScrewyBrewer and TxBrew were wee babes (Roughly 736 AD), the first documented cultivation of hops took place in what would be the Hallertau region of Germany. At that time, beers were primarily bittered with herbs (gruits). It wasnt until over 600 years later that people began to realize that the beers brewed with hops had better shelf stability than their gruit counterparts.Britain caught on even later, as they saw hops as a useless weed. Once they did accept hops as the best way to preserve beer (bittering factors were still unfavorable), they began importing hops from the Flemish region in Belgium. As taxes increased on imported hops, Britain began growing their own acreage. Just as the Northwestern regions of North America would discover, it was very profitable when yields were good. In fact, on a good year, one acre of hops could sell for as much as fifty acres of other crops. However, hop farming in Britain was a risky business, as yields varied greatly year to year due to drought, disease, and pests. By 1710, extra taxes were levied against breweries that made a beer without hops as the primary bittering agent. These taxes varied so greatly from year to year that people would place bets on what the taxes would be (similar to how Vegas will put a line on how long the national anthem is at the Super Bowl).In the late 1800s, United Kingdom hop production peaked at a staggering 77,000 acres. This however crashed during the 1900s, falling all the way to 2,427 (2014 numbers).You probably already know this, but there are 4 noble hops; those being Hallertau, Spalt, Tettnang, and Saaz. The first three are all German. They may have lost the war, but they have dominance over the four most well-known, and widely used, hops in the world.Hops are typically grown from the rhizome stage; however, planting a crown can yield greater results, earlier. Hops have separate male and female plants, and the female variety produces hops. The flowers on hops are called burrs. Those burrs then turn to cones later in the season. Depending on the weather in your region, harvest is typically between August and September. Once harvested, the hops must be dried, if not using them in a Wet-Hop or Harvest beer. After being completely dried, they are typically pressed into bales, and sent to distributors. Smaller hop operations will vacuum pack directly on site.If we were to stereotype regions by hop flavor profiles, removing outliers, we would find a vast difference in flavors on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. The United States produces insane amounts of big, bold, fruity, and piney hops. Each year, many new types are grown, giving brewers ever-growing options. Australia also produces bold and fruity hops. In Europe, however, the flavors tend to gravitate towards flowery, earthy, mild, and a bit of spicy notes.Hops release their desired bitterness, flavor, and aroma profiles when dropped into a container of boiling wort. There are two types of acids that produce bitterness in beer. The first are Alpha Acids, which produce the bulk of bitterness in beer. The other are Beta acids, which are typically believed to add bitterness as the beer is aged. The longer hops are boiled, the more acids they will release; however, the compounds that produce aroma are driven off during the boiling process. To combat this loss of aroma, brewers of all levels have:1. Added hops toward the end of the boil - Done in almost all beers.2. Dry hopped (added hops after fermentation)3. Hop-backed - Hops added in-line as the wort is cooled4. Randalled - In-line addition of hops at the time of servingUsing one, or all, of these methods will dramatically increase the hop presence in your beer.As you can see, theres a lot to these little green plants, and Im sure, in the next few years, the amount of new hop varieties will allow for even crazier hoppy beers.If there is a topic youd like to see me cover on, let me know in the "comments section" below.If you would like to order the Brew it Noble artwork (its available on shirts, mugs, prints, stickers, and more), you can do so at my RedBubble store here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/illu...strated-brewer . Part of the profits will go to supporting HomeBrewTalk!