Yakima Chief Hops(YCH), the largest grower owned hop supplier based in America’s Pacific Northwest, is pleased to announce a new partnership with MacHops, a fifth generation hop farm in Nelson, New Zealand.

For more than 30 years, Yakima Chief Hops has supplied the global brewing community with premium hop products, from traditional whole leaf hops to advanced hop products. As a grower owned supplier, their mission is to connect brewers with the independent and multigenerational family farms that supply their hops.

Yakima Chief Hops is currently owned by 15 different hop growers from across the Pacific Northwest – the heart of America’s hop industry – and they source from a large network of growers. While the majority is grown in the Pacific Northwest, YCH also offers an array of New Zealand grown varieties within their robust portfolio of hop products. YCH takes pride in ensuring that brewing customers have access to a wide selection of hops to continue fueling their creativity. In 2021, YCH sourced more than 10 different hop varieties from New Zealand.

Beginning crop year 2022, Yakima Chief Hops is proud to partner with MacHops Limited to supply high quality New Zealand hops to YCH customers across the globe (excluding their home markets of New Zealand and Australia). Located in Nelson, New Zealand, MacHops has been owned and operated by the McGlashen family for the past five generations and is a grower owner of NZ Hops Limited.

“As one of its larger producers, MacHops is proud of its association with the New Zealand hop industry over several generations,” said Brent McGlashen, Director at MacHops. “Our values are ‘passion, respect, integrity and dedication to excellence.’ We align strongly with the values of the Yakima Chief Hops grower families and with each season strive to deliver the highest quality hops to our brewing customers internationally. We are excited to have been recognized for this by YCH and selected to be their exclusive supplier of hops from New Zealand.”

As one of the pioneering families of Nelson’s hop community, MacHops and YCH share the same values of quality and sustainability that are deeply rooted in family farming. Serving macro, craft and homebrewers all over the world, YCH is thrilled to share the MacHops story, raise awareness of NZ varieties and provide greater education on how to brew with them. For the first time, YCH will also extend their Green Chief® program to the MacHops farm in New Zealand, giving access to their network of more than 75 hop growers to share farming best practices and assess hop quality.

“I am thrilled at our new partnership with MacHops as it further strengthens our Mission of connecting family hop farms and brewers,” said Bryan Pierce, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at YCH. “This is a unique opportunity to really carry that through for hop farms not just here in the PNW, but on a global scale. It is very special to find another family farm that is as like-minded as our farms here in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and we look forward to the close relationship and ties shared in our unique agriculture product – hops. With MacHops’ high commitment to quality, and their own unique family story, we’re excited for this next page of New Zealand Hops and YCH and what it means for brewers.”

Yakima Chief Hops customers outside of Australia and New Zealand can access hops from MacHops via YCH’s regional sales team or contact hops@yakimachief.com. Stay tuned for more from YCH as they share this connection to MacHops with brewers worldwide!