Yakima Valley Hop Region is the largest hop-growing area in the United States. It is located approximately 230 km southeast of Seattle, Washington, at roughly 46 north latitude. This region experiences long days of up to 16 h of sunlight during the summer months, moderate summer temperatures with an average high of 31°C (87°F), and cold winters with an average low of –7°C (20°F). Because the region is also in the rain shadow of the Cascade Range, rainfall is very light, averaging 21 cm (8 inches) per year, which translates into less than 2 cm per month. Rain in the summer months is rare. Although the name “Yakima” is now iconic among American brewers and beer enthusiasts, it is not a natural hop-growing region. Once just a stretch of sagebrush country, Yakima Valley actually has a desert climate, and most agriculture in the valley depends upon irrigation. Fortunately, water is available from the Yakima River Watershed. The arrival of settlers from the East began in the 1860sand they quickly turned the valley into a verdant fruit-growing region, which it still is today. The first hop rhizomes in the Yakima Valley were planted in 1872, and just 4 years later Yakima hop growers shipped 80 bales of hops to breweries westward.

Photograph of oast houses in Yakima Valley, Washington State, c. 1910. Yakima Valley is the largest hop-growing region in the United States. pike microbrewery museum, seattle, wa

Hop growing as well as other agricultural activities accelerated rapidly after the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad from the Great Lakes to the Pacific in 1883. Once irrigation is established, the region’s climate is well suited for growing hops, and new plants can produce a harvest in their first year. Yakima varieties range across the full spectrum from superhigh alpha hops to bittering hops and aroma hops. Generally, more than 25 different varieties are cultivated in the region on a commercial scale. These include the higher-alpha varieties Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ), Nugget, and Galena, as well as the important American aroma varieties Willamette, Cascade, and Mount Hood. The higher-alpha varieties account for more than half of the total hop acreage in Washington State. In contrast to the small farm sizes of just a few acres in European hop growing regions, the average farm size in the Yakima Valley is about 450 acres (180 ha). In most years, roughly 75% of the entire American hop harvest comes from the Yakima Valley, whereas not quite 20% comes from the Willamette Valley in Oregon and not quite 10% from two hop-growing regions in Idaho.