About
Wisconsin Hop Exchange is committed to providing high quality, locally sourced hops to brewers who value meaningful relationships and top-notch customer service. By working with growers to produce and process hops that meet or exceed industry standards, and selling them at honest and fair prices, we’re building a sustainable model for our brewing partners to stabilize supply in this increasingly volatile market.
High Quality
Hop production in Wisconsin is more closely aligned with traditional German practices than the mass scale, margin-driven methods out west. We share the same commitments to quality standards, but the advantages of small scale production allow greater control over crop management, harvest timing, and drying operations — removing dryer constraints entirely from the equation. The cooperative operates regional intake facilities during harvest and ensures each and every lot meets processing requirements before selection. Selected lots are bale conditioned in cold storage, pelletized, and packaged in nitrogen-flushed, vacuum-sealed, mylar bags. We test all of our varieties with a third-party, TTB-certified lab using ASBC (American Society Brewing Chemists) methods and in-house validation.
Local Commitment
The successful exchange of hops between growers and brewers requires a strong connection. The cooperative functions as that crucial link, working with our partners to increase market potential for locally grown hops. By sourcing local ingredients, breweries are injecting money back into the community, and the ripple effect of that economic impact builds a more stable supply chain — which minimizes price fluctuations when natural disasters or warehouse fires threaten the national supply.
In addition to diversifying long-term sourcing options, partnerships with local growers can yield a whole list of benefits, including:
- Access to hop yards across the state
- Wet hop collaborations
- Small scale production opens up harvest contract opportunities to breweries well under 1,000 BBL/year
- Brewers can work directly with growers to experiment with new and interesting varieties or harvest techniques
Customer Service
Wisconsin Hop Exchange is uniquely suited to provide top-notch customer service to local breweries. We are driven to support our local partners because they are also our friends and neighbors.
- Attentive service: we focus our efforts on 200 customers, not 8,000 across the nation
- Fast order fulfillment throughout the Midwest: in most cases hops are delivered 1–2 days after an order is placed
- We buy local, too: our growers love to support local breweries in the taprooms and on store shelves
If you’re interested in growing with us, or want to learn more about Wisconsin hops, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch soon.