Brewbound Live Winter 2025: John I. Haas Livestream Interview

Justin Kendall [00:00] Welcome to a special Brewbound Live sponsored interview. My name is Justin Kendall, and I'm the editor of Brewbound, and it's crop report season, which is always a big moment for the industry. The brewers Association just released its annual harvest report, and 2025 appears to be a pretty consequential year. So joining me now to discuss are Monica Duggan, Southwest Territory sales manager for John I Haas. Thanks for being here, Monica.

Speaker 2 [00:27] Thanks, Justin. Always glad to see you. And

Justin Kendall [00:30] Andrew Jaquis, John Iha's procurement specialist for supply chain management. That's a long title, but I'm glad you're here, Andrew.

Speaker 3 [00:39] Yeah, great to be here. Thank you, Justin.

Justin Kendall [00:42] So Monica, I'll start with you, and I just want to know right off the bat, what's the headline for 2025?

Speaker 2 [00:49] Yeah, a big headline for 25. US crop uh delivered excellent quality with high oil, strong aromatics, and great consistency, um, even with uh acreage reductions and some drought issues.

Justin Kendall [01:05] So let's dig into acreage. It's always a big topic. What happened in 2025, Andrew? It

Speaker 3 [01:12] was another year of reductions. We've been, as a whole industry in the US, uh, been reducing quite a bit of acreage the last few years. Um, we dropped down another 6% in 2025 and it puts us right above 42,000, about 42,200 acres. Um, that's about 30-31% decrease from our peak, which was in 2022, which I believe was around 62,000 acres, maybe a touch more. Um, It's been a big impact for the growers, obviously, but, um, these corrections, as far as the acreage, uh, directly correlate with the volume, obviously, that we, that we get from, uh, from the crop. So, uh, these cuts are necessary as an industry, especially with our overage, um, our oversupply. Um, and we are seeing that. We're seeing, um, we're seeing the stocks, hop stocks come down, which is good. That's a good sign. That's why we're making these cuts, um, to make these corrections, and, uh, it looks like it's working.

Justin Kendall [02:22] Now, let's dig into quality. What did we see in the growing regions this year?

Speaker 3 [02:26] So it's the 4th consecutive year of drought conditions in Washington State. Uh, we, the Yakima River system, which supplies most of the irrigation throughout the whole Yakima Valley, hit an all-time low of 12% capacity. Um, that really puts a strain on growers, um, throughout the year, especially near the end of the year, uh, when the, the irrigation systems, the irrigation districts were, uh, cutting back water supply to these growers. Um, luckily, you know, a lot of these growers have made great advances in their irrigation technology, um, using drip tube. Everybody uses drip tube now, which cuts back on the water consumption tremendously, um, along with moisture meters and monitors to where people can really dial in their, their irrigation practices, um, which helps in years like this where, where we have those challenges. Um, Oregon, Idaho, no issues on irrigation. Um, they're doing just fine. Um, in Washington, we had a little scare with smoke. Uh, there was a fire that, that happened that started up here in the Cascades pretty close to us, um, late August. And went into the first week or so of September and um luckily the smoke for the most part stayed, stayed high, high altitude and, and didn't really, um, couldn't really smell it too much. You could see it, but that was kind of a concern. Um, was a few growers did, uh, ourselves included, is when we actually did start to see those higher AQI levels, um, once they were starting to hit around 100 or so, we would actually, uh, move our harvest practice. So, instead of, um, harvesting something like, like crush or dulcita during that time period, we actually switched over and, and started harvesting hy alphas. Just to try to avoid any smoke taint in the, in those, uh, aroma varieties. And, um, in the end, I, it, it worked. Our sensory team, we didn't pick up any smoke taint lots throughout all three states. Um, so, that was a success and, and that worry, um, went away. So it, it, it ended up being a pretty good year, uh, growing condition-wise.

Justin Kendall [05:01] That's great to hear because I know smoke is always a concern for brewers out there. Monica, so, brewers are also always asking about contracts. Where does the US stand going into 2026?

Speaker 2 [05:15] There's a lot of brewers out there still long in contracts with previous crop years, and those that are in better spots are hesitant to contract sometimes. My biggest advice, uh, to brewers right now, just to be really intentional with their contracts, uh, acreage is decreasing, and the spot market is not gonna stay as robust as it's been the last few years. Um, growers are hesitant to plant new varieties as well, so if those aren't contracted, You run the chance of not being able to get it at all. Um, I don't think we'll go back to crazy high hot prices like in, you know, years past, but with acreage reductions and rising costs, the, the days of the super low like spot pricing, it's just not going to continue.

Justin Kendall [06:02] What should brewers expect this year? Because I mean we've covered quality, you know, what are we gonna see though with the hops that are coming out?

Speaker 2 [06:11] Yeah, you know, quality is better than ever. Um, you're gonna expect to see really high oil content across your major aroma varieties. Um, look for crisp, expressive citrus and tropical notes from Citra and Mosaic. Um, I think it's really important too to mention the US is producing more sustainable, resilient varieties than ever, um, not just giving brewers better performance, but doing so while helping growers manage water, pests, and heat issues.

Justin Kendall [06:41] Now we talked about the US. We've got to zoom out and talk about the global hop market. What are we seeing globally?

Speaker 2 [06:47] Yeah, globally, 2025 was pretty mixed. Um, Europe struggled a bit. Uh, Germany saw really hot, dry conditions and below average yields across many of their aroma varieties. Um, acreage dropped again, and both downy and powder powdery mildew were challenges for them. Uh, chat crop was pretty average, with sage showing a higher than usual, um, alpha, 3.3%-ish, um, and some really promising results though, from their new heat resistant varieties. Australia had a really great year, yields came in above expectation, and HPA's new Hop Central facility helped deliver really great consistency. Um, I like to say Galaxy is really back, um, and smelling super fantastic this year, so look for some Galaxy beers in the market. Um, overall, from a global perspective though, the US and Australia really carried the quality story.

Justin Kendall [07:45] Sustainability is always a big theme. What's in the breeding pipeline that brewers should be watching for in 2026?

Speaker 3 [07:53] Yeah, so our breeding program, uh, HBC, it's a joint venture with Yakima Chief Ranchers. And, um, their biggest focus is agronomics, um, like you mentioned, sustainability, obviously going forward, and that starts at the farm. So, the, the breeders are really looking for, before they even go s selecting for your aromas or anything, they're really looking for disease resistance. That's gonna give us less sprays, less chemicals out in the field, less tractor passes, less burnt fuel. It's also, they're looking for high yields as well. So if we can be more efficient in our farming practices and grow more volume per acre than what we had been doing in the past with older varieties, that's really the goal with that breeding program. And then once they get past that standard of a high yielding disease resistant plant, then they're going to start actually going out and selecting for the aromas or the alpha or whatever their goal is. But um, Really, uh, that, that's the driving focus is that agronomic value. And with the HBC program as well. We're trying to come up with some of these newer varieties, uh, more of a noble type US variety. Um, this Goes along with the sustainability aspect too, where if we can provide these characteristics of hops that we've been purchasing historically from overseas, but if we can grow them here on our own US soil, that's a huge win for growers here as well and for brewers, I think, because that could put the, put, put that noble type of hop into US production. We can keep it here. We're not shipping around the world. You have access to that right here, and they're going to be so much more agronomically. stable than than the than the historic classic nobles over in in the EU and And uh Europe.

Speaker 2 [09:55] HBC's been working really hard on the Noble, um, Fridays, as Andrew was saying, 11:34 showing great promise. It's just a really nice floral lagering hop, um, seeing a lot of it being used here in California, uh, in the Pipeline two, there's 1493, uh, which should hopefully work out to be a SAS replacement, um, but that one's still in development. Brewers can't quite buy that one yet, so keep on the lookout for that one next year.

Justin Kendall [10:25] Final question for you both. What's the one thing brewers should take away from the 2025 crop report?

Speaker 2 [10:31] Yeah, uh, contracting matters. Work with your suppliers, get right size contracts in place. It's really a year of opportunity, so right size market, new sustainable varieties make this one of the most stable hop outlooks we've had in years.

Speaker 3 [10:46] With these acreage reductions, we're actually seeing a huge quality and yield increase on, on, on these farms. Um, mostly due to when, when we are reducing acreage, um, obviously, the grower is gonna take out their sick virus fields, the low producing yards, the ones that just don't perform as well. So, when we're coming down in, in acreage overall, we're actually seeing the, the average, uh, yield starting to rise and the quality as well. So, that's kind of the silver lining on the acreage reduction in the US.

Justin Kendall [11:21] Well, Monica, Andrew, thank you for doing this. We appreciate the time.

Speaker 2 [11:25] Yeah, thanks, Justin. And

Justin Kendall [11:27] thanks to John I. Haas. Let's get back to Brewbound Live.