Yakima Chief Hops

And there's a little bit of a learning curve that comes with any, um, you know, any, uh, advanced product.

I mean, for example, one of the things too is like when Hyperboost came out, Yakima Chief thought it would be a great addition into the bright tanks as a really like cold down, you know, downstream, like cold side product.

Uh, when a lot of brewers started doing that, they realized, you know, we actually like putting it in fermentation or, you know, and so, uh, Sometimes the initial thought that, you know, maybe the hop suppliers or processors are the problem that they're trying to solve or where they think that it might go doesn't end up landing where they initially thought.

Brewers are like wildly creative animals.

But we did, we have had a couple of really big parties these last two weeks.

We hosted Brewers Retreat here two weeks ago, which is a craft beer and brewing thing.

And then we hosted opening reception and a brew day for Yakima Chiefs Hoppin' Brew School earlier this week.

So there's a lot of brewers already coming in.

We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed over to Single Hill, where Don sat down with Zach Turner.

Before co-founding Single Hill, Turner cut his teeth in technical roles at Odell Brewing Company and Yakima Chief Hops.

Today, he uses that background to brew expressive hop-forward beers right in the heart of Washington hop country.

Harvest is where Single Hill's farm connections come alive, he says.

There is some bouncing around between varieties, but at a particular farm.

But just knowing that, on average, across the valley, there is a sequence to it.

And for us, doing this a while, and also in my previous work at Yakima Chief Hops, got a very good understanding of like what that progression looks like.

Cause I keep pretty good records also of what did we get last year? Who was picking what on what day to kind of know those, know what that sequence is going to be.