Bulk wine broker expands into hop business

Bulk wine and grape broker The Ciatti Company has launched a hop brokering business to cater for the burgeoning US market for craft beer.

Craft beer styles such as the IPA use a much higher proportion of hops in production than typical lagers (Photo: Wiki)

The new division will act as a distributor and broker of fresh, raw and unprocessed hops, primarily in the USA, as well as fruit concentrates, wood barrels and malt extracts it said and is already sourcing hops from South Africa.

It is being headed by new business development manager, Robert Bolch, who joined the company in December 2013 from Treasury Wine Estates where he was responsible for vineyard and grower relations, bulk wine and long-term planning.

The company says it intends to leverage Ciatti’s global network to source aromatic hops from across the world, particular varieties from the Southern hemisphere which are hard to source but popualar. It has also created a  water-based hop extract called Humuflor, which it says adds extra aroma of hops that can be lost during fermentation, without the bitterness.

The company said the boom in craft beer in the US has seen a boost in the numbers of breweries, particularly smaller breweries which now numbered around 4,500. Sales had grown 12.8%, according to the Brewer’s Association, and the market share of craft had more than doubled to 12.2%.

In 2015, sales in the US of craft beer grew by 12.8% in volume (to 24.5 million barrels) and 16% in value (to USD22.3 billion), according to the Brewers Association – with volumes also rising 8% between January and May 2016, as the base starts to mature..

Craft’s volume share of the total US beer market stood at 5.7% in 2011; this figure in 2015 reached 12.2%. Powering this growth is increasing consumer demand for beers that offer more flavour.

The craft beer business has been named after the medieval Duke of Burgundy, who is credited with bringing hops into Europe, and founding the Order of the Hops.