USA Hop Growers - 2021 Statistical Report Breakdown

We recently came across the USA Hop Growers statistical report for 2021. After having a read through it there were definitely some interesting takeaways which give a great insight into the brewing industry - from homebrewing all the way through to full scale brew houses.

The USA are responsible for providing the majority of "new world" hop varieties used in modern day brewing, and with the explosion in recent times of heavily hopped beers like Hazy/NEIPA's, it's no surprise to see the hop industry in the USA growing year on year.

There was a total production increase of 11.18% in US hop crops in 2021 compared to 2020.

Below is a table taken directly from the report showing the top 10 Pacific North West (PNW) Region Hop Varieties by acreage

Source: USA Hop Growers 2021 Statistical Report

Unsurprisingly, Citra is the top hop and has held the number one position since 2018. We're a big fan of citra hops (as are lots of other people apparently). According to the report nearly 1 out of every 5 hop bines in the PNW region was for Citra!

Mosaic has claimed the number two spot for the first time and has steadily been increasing it's ranking since 2018.

CTZ - or Columbus, Tomahawk and Zeus was relegated from 2nd to 3rd on the list, with the remaining varieties and rankings staying relatively the same, with the exception of Simcoe and Cascade swapping places compared to 2020.

Over the past 10 years, hop acreage has increased by 109% from just under 30,000 acres to now just over 62,000. This growth has also seen a shift from a 50/50 split in alpha/bittering and aroma hops to 80.5% aroma varieties in 2021, meaning 19.5% of the crops were for alpha/bittering hops. Would be interesting to understand how dual purpose hops (like Citra) are classified here as they're often used for bittering and aroma/flavour.

Here's another interesting graphic giving a visual representation of the crop volume (acreage) for each of the top 10 varieties.

Source: USA Hop Growers 2021 Statistical Report

This really gives a good insight into just how popular these top 10 varieties of hops are, with the top 3 varieties accounting for just over 40% of total crops.

When you consider how many other hop varieties are available, it's pretty astounding to see these figures, with the countless other hop varieties account for just over 30% of total crops.

We've used nearly all of these top ten varieties at some point in our brewing journey, with the exception of Pahto. Sounds like we might be missing out on something here so we'll be keeping an eye out for this variety for future brews.

Check out the 2021 Hop Growers of America Statistical Report for yourself.