Idaho has long been tied to a vast potato crop. But the state grows way more than that, especially for eager craft brewers. With a diversity of climates and topography, Idaho has everything beer could ask for, from towering hop farms and golden fields of wheat to barley, a crop the Gem State leads the nation in producing.
While hops generally prefer a home closer to the Pacific Ocean in places like Yakima and the Willamette Valley, Idaho has its share of them. In fact, in Bonners Ferry resides the biggest contiguous hop farm in the United States in Elk Mountain Farms. The 1,700-acre site has grown the vital aroma and bittering agents for giants like Anheuser Busch, Goose Island, and more. Smaller farms are the norm, like Jackson Hop Farm. Set west of Boise near the Oregon border, the spot is family-run and even created the popular Idaho7 hop variety.
Many beers call for malt and you can’t have malt without great barley. Idaho is home to seemingly endless fields of the grain, which gifted maltsters transform into that sweet and flavorful base that jump-starts the fermentation process. There are old guard members like Great Western Malting, going back as far as just after Prohibition in 1934. And there’s Clearwater Farms in NezPerce, a fifth-generation outfit farming sustainably out of the Camas Prairie.
In Eastern Idaho, there’s Mountain Malt, a newer operation taking advantage of the rich volcanic soil in the Yellowstone Caldera. They specialize in a handful of malt varieties that bring tremendous character to their resulting beers (and whiskies). Part of the run right now is a renewed interest in indigenous grains. These types are native to a singular place and offer tons of personality on the palate. Craft brewers looking to make something truly unique seek this stuff out, and a fair bit of it is coming out of Idaho.
Increasingly, people are recognizing the terroir element at play with these crucial ingredients. Giants grown here taste different and those flavors rub off on the resulting amber ales, blonde ales, IPAs, wheat beers, and more. Wine is not the only beverage to tell the story of place. Beer does just the same, and in Idaho it can be all the more expressive as all of the main ingredients can come from a single place.
And like wine, the growing of these ingredients can vary a bit year to year, in terms of characteristics, quality, and yield. That almost adds a vintage-like element to craft beer, perhaps something one could taste the most during fresh-hop season. Either day, there’s a narrative in every craft beer coming out of the Gem State and chances are good you’re going to tase something that was built entirely – or close to it – in Idaho, making for a one-of-a-kind sip.
If you go:
Some farms offer tours and welcome guests with other draws. Go straight to the source at places like Lone Mountain Farms in northern Idaho. The small establishment focuses on ancient grains and milling right there onsite. Visitors can take in the process via the resident farm stand, open on the weekends. If you can just get your hands on beer, go with one of the many Idaho labels that celebrates the local farm-to-glass movement, like Hunga Dunga or Micropolis.
