It’s Time To Celebrate Beer Hop Harvest Underway

KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) — The hop harvest is underway in Washington, the nation's leading producer of the beer ingredient that gives brews their bitter flavors and floral aromas. Farms mostly in the Yakima Valley grow about 75 percent of the nation's hops.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects a crop this year of more than 55 million pounds. That's up slightly from last year, but it's almost 20 million pounds less than 2009 when production peaked.