[COHO] FW: [lbhbrew] Hops burn...

[Tom Brohamer]

I'm sure everyone has seen this, but just in case you haven't...
 
Regards,
Tom
 
Tom Brohamer
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-----Original Message-----
From: lbhbrew at yahoogroups.com [mailto:lbhbrew at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
George Eldridge
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 3:05 PM
To: lbhbrew at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lbhbrew] Hops burn...





Beer drinkers beware: 4 percent of U.S. hops crop burns


YAKIMA, Washington (AP) -- Federal investigators were set Tuesday to begin
an investigation into a fire that ruined about 4 percent of America's yield
of hops, used as flavoring in the brewing of beer and ale.

The fire started shortly before noon Monday in a 40,000-square-foot
(3,600-square-meter) warehouse operated by S.S. Steiner Inc., one of the
four largest hop buyers in the Yakima Valley of central Washington. By
mid-afternoon flames engulfed most of the building, sending up plumes of
smoke and a pungent aroma.

Municipal fire crews, aided by regional firefighters, ripped away metal
siding to shoot water directly onto the hops.

Based on an industry official's estimate of the quantity of hops in the
warehouse, the loss could amount to $3.5 million to $4 million. The impact
on brewers and beer prices was unclear early Tuesday.

Company President Paul Signorotti would not comment.

The United States produces 24 percent of the world's hops, and about
three-fourths of the U.S. crop comes from the Yakima Valley. Hops were a $77
million crop in Washington state in 2004. More than 40 families grow hops in
the valley, which is dotted with orchards, vineyards and farms.

Fires have long been an expensive danger at hop warehouses, largely because
of the potential for spontaneous combustion from heat buildup in bales of
resin-loaded varieties.

"That's just a possibility that we'll look at," East Valley Deputy Chief
Mike Riel told the Yakima Herald-Republic, "but it is very high on the
list."

No one was in the warehouse when the fire started, Riel said.

With the fire under control Monday night, authorities told the newspaper an
investigation into the cause would be led by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms.

Steiner is part of the Steiner Group of Germany, one of the largest
international hop growing, trading and processing companies in the world.
The Yakima branch manages Steiner's North American buying and processing,
according to the company Web site.

Besides being one of the largest growers in the valley, Steiner is one of
three large merchants that buy from other growers in the area. The others
are John I. Haas Inc., the grower-owned cooperative Yakima Chief and Hop
Union, which specializes in sales to craft brewers.

The fire destroyed or ruined about 10,000 bales, each weighing about 200
pounds (90 kilograms) and likely worth $1.75 to $2 a pound, Ann George,
administrator of the Washington Hops Commission in nearby Moxee, told the
Herald-Republic.

Seventeen varieties of hops are grown in the United States, including aroma
varieties which are added for flavor or fragrance and the bitter alpha
varieties.

Copyright 2006 The Associated
<http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP> Press. All rights
reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.


Find this article at: 
http://www.cnn. <http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/03/hops.fire.ap/index.html>
com/2006/US/10/03/hops.fire.ap/index.html 	

 

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