In the era before Prohibition, Maryland was home to a thriving brewing industry. Nearly 100 breweries operated in the Baltimore area and farmers across the mid-Atlantic cultivated hops for beer. But today there are only a handful of East Coast farmers that continue that tradition, and more than 75 percent of the hops grown in the United States comes from the Yakima River valley in eastern Washington.
Bryan Butler, a scientist with the University of Maryland’s School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is working with Flying Dog, a craft brewery in Frederick, Maryland, to see if hops can flourish in the variable climate of the mid-Atlantic once again. Over the past few years, the craft beer boom in the U.S. has built up a huge demand for hops, encouraging domestic growers to push the boundaries of what is possible when it comes to hop production. Butler wants to determine once and for all if Maryland can be a part of a new, distinctly American kind of brewing tradition.
“If this fails and doesn’t work, that’s okay,” Butler said. “But we’ll prove it one way or another through research-based information.”
The East Coast Hop Project launched in 2017. Hops are sensitive to climate, particularly heat and humidity, which is why they do so well in the arid heat of eastern Washington. But to grow hops out east, you just need a particular type of agricultural knowledge. Butler is helping to rebuild that knowledge.
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