Could Michigan become a national hub for growing hops for craft beer?
October 16, 2015
Could Michigan add another food item to its list of money-making crops? There's corn, sugar beets, soy beans, navy beans and several more.
How about hops? They are used as a sweetener in beer production. And the Great Lakes state has become a hotbed for craft beer production where hops are needed in massive quantities.
Google has a whole list of links about hop production in Michigan and how it's starting to get noticed. Check this article from the Detroit Free Press about how a few guys in Eaton Rapids just south of Lansing took a half an acre and turned it into hops production.
Then there's this piece on mlive.com about how U.S. Sen. Gary Peters says Michigan is a natural place to grow them.