Day Trading

Hops Are Hip

Author: Schuyler Ingle
photograph by Victoria Rich, from a video courtesy of Hop Growers of America
In Native American and folk medicine traditions, hops—the small, cone-shaped flowers of the hop vine, Humulus lupulus—have long been used to treat fever, nervousness, and insomnia, among other ailments. More to the point, they give beer its bracing aroma and refreshing bitterness, and function as a clarifier and preservative. At the American Hop Museum in the town of Toppenish, in Washington State’s Yakima Valley, the humble hop vine gets its due.

Day Forex System Trading This valley is the heart and soul of the North American hops universe: Nearly 45 million pounds are processed here annually, making the valley the second largest hops producer in the world (only Bavaria, in southern Germany, yields more). At the Hop Museum, visitors can trace the history of the plant in America, beginning with Colonial-era New England farms. (In the world of hops, this hardly sets a record for ancient history; the flowers were used to brew beer as long ago as 500 b.c., in Egypt.) It’s fun to check out the museum’s replica of an old brewery, complete with copper cooking kettle, and then watch footage of modern workers on mechanized platforms hacking down the monster hop vines, laden with pale green flowers, from the 25-foot-tall grid of supports on which they grow. After touring the museum, consider continuing your beer explora-tions at one of the several micro-breweries in the area. Friendly museum curators will even hand you a map showing their locations.

The true Hip Hop battle is no longer a fight toprove one's skills, but a fight to survive in this Billion Dollar Hip Hop Industry.

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