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Hopsource Event Returns to Support Public Hop Breeding

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Link to article Woman doing hop sensory analysis at Hopsource 2025, an event that supports public hop breeding
© Yakima Valley Hops
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Technical Brewing Projects Director

Chuck joined the Brewers Association staff in 2013 after a long career as a craft brewer. He opened Tennessee’s first brewpub, Boscos, in 1992. As an owner and director of brewery operations for Boscos Brewing Company, he opened additional brewpubs in Memphis, Nashville, and Little Rock, Arkansas. In 2007, Chuck opened and operated Ghost River Brewing in Memphis. He has served as chair of the Association of Brewers Board of Advisors, chair of the Association of Brewers Board of Directors, and was a member of the first Board of Directors for the Brewers Association. In his capacity as technical brewing projects manager, Chuck works with the Technical Committee and the safety, sustainability, quality, draught beer quality, engineering, and supply chain subcommittees to encourage and facilitate best practices in all phases of Brewers Association members' brewery operations.

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The Brewers Association hosted the 8th annual Hopsource, a crowd-sourced sensory evaluation of experimental hop varieties, September 23–25 at Yakima Valley Hops (YVH).

Hopsource connects brewers directly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Public Hop Breeding Program, giving them a hands-on role in shaping the future of public hop development. Participants provide sensory feedback that helps breeders identify the most promising new hop varieties before they’re released to the industry.

This year’s event generated more than 1,000 individual assessments across 30 experimental hops—15 each from the USDA-ARS breeding facilities in Corvallis, Oregon, and Prosser, Washington. All selections displayed exceptional agronomic traits and disease resistance. The sensory insights gathered guide which hops advance toward public release. Case in point: the newly released Vera hop earned consistently high marks during its three years in the program.

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

The Brewers Association extends heartfelt thanks to Yakima Valley Hops, whose generous support has made every Yakima-based Hopsource possible since the program’s inception.

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Link to author biography
Technical Brewing Projects Director

Chuck joined the Brewers Association staff in 2013 after a long career as a craft brewer. He opened Tennessee’s first brewpub, Boscos, in 1992. As an owner and director of brewery operations for Boscos Brewing Company, he opened additional brewpubs in Memphis, Nashville, and Little Rock, Arkansas. In 2007, Chuck opened and operated Ghost River Brewing in Memphis. He has served as chair of the Association of Brewers Board of Advisors, chair of the Association of Brewers Board of Directors, and was a member of the first Board of Directors for the Brewers Association. In his capacity as technical brewing projects manager, Chuck works with the Technical Committee and the safety, sustainability, quality, draught beer quality, engineering, and supply chain subcommittees to encourage and facilitate best practices in all phases of Brewers Association members' brewery operations.

See Chuck Skypeck's Articles