I ran across this article earlier and it made me realize that I haven’t really spent any time looking into the history of hops in Michigan. The main thing being that with our growing hop industry why did we stop growing hops in the past. My first thought was maybe the rise of prohibition hurt the industry too much. Considering hops sole purpose is for brewing it makes a little sense. But that would be too easy an answer.
I did a little digging and first ran across this article. This article is about the Michigan Hop Alliance featuring Brian Tennis. In the second paragraph there is mention of Michigan hops in the mid 1800s dying out due to infestation by the hop louse. Hops at the time were being cultivated along with cherry trees in Northern Michigan. When the hops were decimated the cherry crops picked up the slack. Even now cherries are a huge crop in Northern Michigan. But again this doesn’t give us more than a glimpse into the hop’s past of Michigan.
This took me to Michigan Crop Research Guide produced by the Michigan State University Library (mentioned in the Alliance article). There wasn’t a huge amount of information there pertaining to pre-prohibition hops. The focus is turning more toward current production. But I did find an interesting piece in the fifth annual report to the board of agriculture (1866).
Geo. P. Oatley is listed on the MSU site as the link for the report. In this year’s report (1866) the louse is mentioned as vermin but it is said that they are not a main problem in the hop production for the year. Instead at the time there was a heavy drought, with only a few days of rain during the month of July. It is in the 1867 report that not only drought but the louse had also hurt production in Michigan.
As we look at the growth of brewing in Michigan and with it the rebirth of hops farming, we seem to be hitting an odd turn. Last year was a horrible year for some of the important crops of Michigan, particularly apples and cherries. It was also a year where drought seemed to affect quite a bit. We seem to be building our industry during a time similar to what decimated the industry so many years ago.
The good news is, with progress we find ways to defend against old problems. There are new methods of pest control and irrigation has done wonders to ensure that many crops will still get the nourishment they need. With knowledge and perseverence we may just be able to look forward to many years our local farms supporting our local brewers.
Time for a pint…
10th Day Brewing 
Nice post, and I learned something from it. It is odd that hops farming is picking up during tough climate. I'm sure with the little bit of snow received in the Midwest this winter, it will add to the drought. Hopefully, current means and technology will help these crops, fruits and brews. It's important to have local farmers supporting their local brewers and others. Bottoms up!
I really liked this post. I hadn't even realized that Michigan had a hop industry. You're right though. The Midwest is booming with craft breweries so it only makes sense that the localvore movement should begin to trickle in to brewing.
It's a great time for beer. Michigan and Wisconsin both are working to build up their hop culture to what it once was.
Biggest challenge will always be nature. Hopefully we don't have a March and April this year like we did last year. The warm weather then quick switch back to freezing really hurt the apple and cherry crop last year.
Isn't it funny how what we think is true turns out to be much different when we take a little time to do some research. The wine industry had also faced a similar challenge, wiping out whole vineyards due to a blight. Time, effort and reasearch can give hops a new life in Michigan just as it did in Napa & Sonoma in Ca. 🙂