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This Road in Washington is Where All Your Favorite Beers Get Their Start

On a map, it doesn’t look like much more than a straight north-south line just southwest of Wapato, Washington. Yet, the road known as Lateral A in the Yakima Valley is one of the most famous hop-growing stretches on earth. Here, one of beer’s critical ingredients grows up along tall trellises as far as the eye can see, harvested annually and sent off to brewers near and far.

It’s a reminder of the many people and places that go into your favorite brews. Rural areas like this provide the space, climate, and human beings for such sprawling agricultural tracts. Those who’ve been to the Yakima Valley know of the openness of this arid country, with mountains beyond and glimpses of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams to the west. If it wasn’t for the dramatic topography in the distance, you’d think you were in the desert, or some farm-heavy stretch of the Midwest, mid-drought.

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Here, the sun shines more than 200 days per year. It’s an energized environment, one that’s responsible for three of every four hops produced in the entire country. What started as an experimental planting in 1868 is now an impressive patchwork of hop-farms. It’s said that a hotel room in the area is hard to come by in August and September, when bottom cutters meander through rows, harvesting the annual crop and brewer’s celebrate with farm-fresh creations.

The valley is quickly approaching 150 hop varieties, which emerge, cone-like, from hop bines (yes, bines, not vines) that can surpass the height of a three-story building. It’s home to many family-run operations which have been hauling in hops for generations. Places like Perrault Farms, in Toppenish a bit south along Lateral A. The Perrault Family arrived here in 1902, when Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House. In addition to growing eleven hop varieties, the family raises bison and grows blueberries.

The hops end up in everything from specialty one-off seasonal beers by Bale Breaker Brewing Company (just north and on the other side of the Yakima River) to Budweiser. Business is booming and the area has its requisite commissions, grower-owned coops, and the like. It’s not uncommon to see reps from the big boys like AB InBev-owned labels sniffing around for a good deal on some choice hops.

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What’s cool about Lateral A, however, is its basic existence and what that all means, big picture-wise. The road is flat and straight and there’s little more around than countless hop rows, a few private residences, and the occasional farm stand. It harks back to 19th-century farming, which seemed like an eternity before the valley would overcome Germany as the leading producer of hops. It highlights the precious nature of small town America and the absolute need for farm hands (and the health insurance, equity, decent pay, and freedom from ICE raids they’re entitled to). 

It doesn’t seem like much is happening here, especially outside of the roughly two-month harvest window. But beer’s engine would cut out almost instantly if not for Lateral A and the many other grid-like roads that dissect the many hop farms like waffle print. It’s the starting block for some of the best beers not just coming out of the West Coast, but anywhere.

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Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
Understanding the Difference Between Dry Hop and Wet Hop Beers
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Hops are as important to beer as grapes are to wine. New hybrids are entering the picture every year, changing what a beer is able to do in terms of flavor and fragrance. From a beer-making standpoint, one major consideration is whether to go the wet hop or dry hop route. But the names can cause a little confusion.
For the record, most hops are dried. They get picked in the field, treated to some warm air, and are often shaped into pellet-like cones for use later on. Since most are grown in the northwest but beer is made all over, this is a great way to preserve a good hop and ship it all over the globe. It’s said that they can last for several years in this format (although we all know how great a fresh-hop beer is).
But a dry-hopped beer usually refers to the actual beer-making approach. Hops are added later in the process so that they hang on to their aromatic intensity. Part of that intensity is owed to the fact that dried hops tend to be denser in terms of the flavor and fragrance punch that they pack. The overall IBU dial will be adjusted, too, as hops inject varying amounts of bitterness. There are even double dry-hopped beers, which means if triple and quadruple dry-hopped beers don’t exist yet, they’re coming soon.
You’d think wet hop would be just the opposite — throwing the flavorful cones in during the boil, giving them a good soak. Nope. A wet-hopped beer is a lot like a fresh-hop beer. It’s made with hops that are not air or kiln-dried. They tend to be moist and full of flavorful oils, having just recently been harvested. The flavors tend to be more nuanced and green in nature. And if it weren’t for new hop oils and extracts, you’d really only find wet-hop beers once a year, right around the hop harvest in early autumn.
Some breweries will do a wet and dry take on the same beer, but I’ve yet to see both versions canned or bottled and available side-by-side. Often times, the wet or fresh hop version is a limited run and simply poured on draft at the brewery’s headquarters. Either way, it’s worth looking out for when sipping beer in the fall.
Here are some worth trying to see what side of the hop fence your taste resides.

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European beer drinkers have a myriad of options when they want to get smashed. Take Scotland-based Brewdog. It produces Tactical Nuclear Penguin, an imperial stout that measures a whopping 32 percent alcohol by volume (ABV). It also puts out Ghost Deer, a Belgian strong pale ale that comes in at 28 percent ABV. Germany’s Schorschbräu produces beers that push the alcohol boundaries even higher, going all the way up to 57 percent in its rotating Schorschbock release.

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When it comes to the California beer scene, San Diego typically gets all the beer credit, but Los Angeles is a true force, turning out some fantastic beers, especially on the west side and in and around South Bay. And because of the city’s inherent health awareness, L.A. brewers are bringing a certain daytime functionality to their craft. While the city can nail a double IPA, it’s also turning out a bevy of lower-octane beers engineered for long, beach-y days.

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