began as a backup site for growing Hallertauer Mittlefrueh. In the 1960s and 1970s, verticillium wilt became a serious problem in the Hallertau region of Germany, threatening the production of the area’s famed Hallertauer Mittelfrueh aroma hops. Several large American brewers, who became worried about their Mittelfrueh supplies, decided to take action. See hallertau, hallertauer mittelfrueh (hop). An Idaho hop breeder, Dr Robert Romanko; Ben Studer, the County Agent for Boundry County; and the Hop Merchant S. S. Steiner therefore formed a consortium to search for a backup site in the United States that would be suitable for growing this cultivar. They selected a site near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, which happens to be along the same latitude as the Hallertauer and has a reasonably similar climate. Brad Studer, Ben Studer’s son, became the farm manager. The first Hallertauer Mittelfrueh rhizomes (root stock), imported from Germany, were planted there in 1971 and the first harvest was the following year. Coors bought all the hops the farm could produce until 1978, when Anheuser-Busch contracted for 80 acres of production. By 1987, Anheuser-Busch had taken over the farm and began to expand it. Much of the new acreage was planted with virus-free Hallertauer Mittelfrueh obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, whereas the rest of the farm was planted with American Tettnanger as well as various Saaz clones. See american tettnanger (hop), saaz (hop). By 1989, the farm had grown to about 1,700 acres, and by the early 1990s, all of the earlier Hallertauer stock had been replaced. Then, in 1998, the American Tettnanger was replaced with Saaz and Hallertauer. But in the early 2000s, August Busch III, who took a personal interest in the farm, decided to return to the source for the German-derived hop. The virus-free Hallertauer, which was notably different from the original Steiner material as well as from German Hallertauer, had drifted too far. He decided to replace it with Hallertauer Mittelfrueh clone 102, sourced directly from the Hop Research Institute in Hüll, Germany. After a few years, the transition was complete and the farm produced a roughly equal amount of Saaz and Hallertauer only. During 2009 and 2010, however, after the purchase of Anheuser-Busch by InBev, hop acreage at Bonners Ferry was drastically reduced, and as of early 2011 its future remains uncertain.
See also hallertau hop region, verticillium wilt.
