The USDA and the BA introduce a new hop variety
The US Department of Agriculture and the Brewers Association recently introduced Vera, a new hop variety. Vera is a product of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). For brewers and beer drinkers, it is described as fruit-forward with tropical, stone fruit, and candy-like citrus notes. For the farmers, it is described as high-yielding and disease-resistant. Vera is a diploid, female hop, and the child of three parents. She was previously known as W1108-333 or HRC-003.
The development and introduction of Vera represent big wins for craft brewers. It is a success story involving the USDA’s hop-breeding program and the partnership with the Brewers Association. Publicly bred hops like this are valuable for the craft beer industry, as I’ll explain below. The Brewers Association is so excited about Vera that it is adding a new, one-time-only category to the Great American Beer Festival this year.
Where did she come from?
Vera was publicly developed by the USDA and is therefore IP-free. Did you know that most new hop varieties are privately developed (bred) and are therefore considered someone’s Intellectual Property? Citra®, Mosaic®, Amarillo®, and many others have agricultural patents. That’s what the ® is all about. For farmers and the brewers, prices are typically lower for public, USDA-bred hops.
The USDA Agricultural Research Service develops new hop varieties, among many other equally important things. The research teams work to improve agricultural practices, ensure food security, enhance environmental sustainability, and contribute to the well-being of rural communities.
The USDA/ARS operates public hop breeding programs in Prosser, WA and Corvallis, OR. (The Yakima and Willamette Valleys are the nation’s top hop-producing regions.) The programs focus on developing new hop varieties with greater disease resistance, superior agronomic characteristics, unique aromas, and suitable brewing attributes.
“The hop is named for Vera Katherine Charles, one of several female mycologists employed by the USDA in the early decades of the twentieth century, as a tribute to the significant contributions these women made to the long-term sustainability of the hop industry,” said Chuck Skypeck, Technical Brewing Projects Director at the Brewers Association.
Vera is the product of cross-breeding three hop varieties: Brewers Gold, a wild Manitoba hop, and a powdery mildew-resistant male hop of Wild American descent. It initially gained interest due to its aroma profile. It also consistently ranked highly among other experimental public hops in annual data gathering.
The 2025 Great American Beer Festival competition will include a special one-time category featuring Vera. If Vera plays the leading role, brewers can enter any beer style in the category.
