midwest hop varieties

With the crazy sweeps in temperatures and humidity, the Midwest is not the ideal region to grow hops. Despite this frustration, many varieties of hops DO grow very well thanks to the USDA's hop breeding. With over 170 varieites to choose from and many of these hybridized to be resistant and in best cases-tollerant to environmental pressures like bugs and diseases. I am still waiting for the USDA to come up with a weed tolerant hop variety.

In my professional hopyard wrangling experience, this short list of hop varieties covers what in my opinion will grow best in your Midwest hopyard:

Hop Varieties which Grow Well in the Midwest

  • CASCADE
  • CENTENNIAL
  • CHINOOK
  • Mount Hood
  • NUGGET
  • PERLE
  • TETTNANG
Hop Varieties that MIGHT work well in the Midwest by I have no experience with
  • Brewers Gold
  • Columbus
  • Galena
  • Glacier
  • US Golding
  • Northern Brewer
  • Sterling
  • Summit
  • Willamette
Hop Varieties I wish I could get that might work in the Midwest
  • Amarillo(r)
  • Citra(r)
  • Cluster
  • Challenger
  • Liberty
  • Newport
  • Simco(r)
  • Spalt Select

Midwest Hop Varieties to SKIP despite your fellow hop grower telling you to do so

  • Fuggles
  • Hallertauer
  • Saaz
My favorite new resource for Midwest hop varieties comes from Dr. Charlie "Beer Man" Rohwer from UMN.
Below is a hop variety list which was re-organized in 2005. Most hop varieties which began with Norm Pyle's Hops FAQ and also includes hop variety details from Leonard P. Perry's UVM Hop Varieties List. Additional variety details were filled in from the Oligopoly's HopUnion's classic Hop Variety Booklet.

Additional Hop Variety Sources

 

Perle Hop Variety
Photo courtesy of Barth Haas Group
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