8th Annual HOPSOURCE

When: September 23-25th, 2025 // 9-5 open house
Where: Yakima Valley Hops, 702 North 1st Ave
Why: Support the public breeding program and find the next great hop!

HOPSOURCE 2025

Hopsource is back for another year of smelling the best experimental hops from the public breeding program. Join us for three days, right in the heart of hop selection, and help to find the next great public hop variety.

“Hopsource and the brewer feedback it provides is absolutely critical for making selection decisions within the public hop breeding program." - Dr. Kayla Altendorf, USDA-ARS Hop Breeder

Hopsource is a collaborative effort between the Brewers Association (BA), the United State Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS), the Hop Research Council (HRC), and Yakima Valley Hops. Hopsource will feature top experimental varieties from the public breeding program's elite breeding line.

The sensory evaluation itself is quick and easy so it is a very small time commitment to pop in and out (less than 10 minutes per flight). Each sample is evaluated on a simple hedonistic scale from 1 to 10 based on how much each brewer likes or dislikes it. High level aroma descriptors, similar to the Barth-Haas Hop Aroma Standards Kit, such as citrus, sweet fruit, and floral are also recorded to get a basic understanding of how the hop presents.

Each of the three days will feature two different flights of hop samples, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, so please attend as many sessions as possible. And since Hopsource is harnessing the power of crowd sourcing and big numbers, be sure to spread the word and bring as many fellow brewers as you can.

Brewer participation and feedback are essential parts of the public breeding program and more information on the goals and objectives can be found in this Brewers Association Collab Hour Presentation with speakers from the HRC and USDA-ARS.

Want to know more about how it works? Here's a great write up recapping 2024 Hopsource.

Vera: New Hopsource Alum

Meet Vera! Formerly W1108-333 or HRC-003, she's the latest hop release from the public breeding program selected in part from brewer's feedback at Hopsource. Vera is a female diploid stemming from parental crosses like Brewer's Gold, a wild Manitoba hop, and a mildew resistant Wild American hop. Vera checks many boxes the market is looking for  — pest resistant, high yield potential, and fruit-forward aromas. Think tropical, stonefruit and citrus aromas upon first impression and "reminiscent of a pineapple flavored Life-Savers® candy" in the final beer (yum).

The successful commercializations of hops like Vista and Vera speak to the importance of publicly funded research programs in our industry. Commercializing a variety is an extensive undertaking, making the collaborative efforts of Hopsource a highlight for the harvest season.

What variety will stand out at this year's Hopsource? Join us and find out September 23-25, 2025.