Hop Dreams Film by Firestone Walker

A Journey into Hop Farming and the
Future of Flavor in the Pacific Northwest

Paso Robles, CA : Firestone Walker today released “Hop Dreams,” a short film that explores the art of hop farming in Washington’s Yakima Valley—all from the vantage of the 2021 hop harvest that culminated in the creation of the brewery’s Hopnosis IPA. zzubreebym

The film follows Brewmaster Matt Brynildson, Propagator Brewing Manager Sam Tierney and Raw Materials Manager Tim Miller as they make their annual pilgrimage to Yakima Valley to source the next great hops for Firestone Walker. Along the way, the film showcases the people, heritage and innovations that drive one of the world’s most important and prolific hop-growing regions.

“The bottom line is: no farmers, no beer,” Brynildson says in the film. “We have nothing but high regard and praise for these people who work so hard for our beers.”

Over the years, Brynildson has formed friendships and connections with a variety of Yakima Valley growers who are setting the pace for new-age IPA hops. As he notes, “We come to Yakima every year so that we can see what’s coming down the pipe, and it’s the catalyst for all of this new, interesting and exciting stuff happening in beer and hops…Sometimes we’ll come out here, and we’ll rub and smell a hop, and it just sparks an idea.”

In fact, it was precisely this  hop harvest journey to Yakima Valley that inspired Hopnosis, the innovative West Coast IPA that Firestone Walker launched earlier this year. 

“Hop Dreams” features growers such as Graham Gamache of Cornerstone Ranches, a fifth-generation farm that produces the Cashmere hops featured in notable Firestone Walker IPAs, including Hopnosis and Mind Haze. The film also follows Director of Brewing Innovation Blaze Ruud as he explains the groundbreaking qualities of Yakima Chief’s Mosaic Cryo Hops®, which are made by collecting the concentrated lupulin from whole-leaf hops.

“Hop Dreams” ultimately reveals how these relationships with some of the world’s top hop growers are Firestone Walker’s secret ingredient behind beers like Hopnosis—from soil to sunlight, conception to reality, raw material to liquid magic. 

“Hopnosis is all of these things in one can of beer,” Brynildson concludes. “It’s the nomadic exploration, the passion, the search, the innovation and dedication of each and every person who lives for beer.”

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Founded by brothers-in-law Adam Firestone and David Walker in 1996, Firestone Walker Brewing Company is a California beer company with three innovative brewing facilities. Firestone Walker’s main brewery in Paso Robles produces a diverse portfolio ranging from iconic pale ales to vintage barrel-aged beers. The Barrelworks facility in Buellton makes eccentric wild ales, while the Propagator pilot brewhouse in Venice specializes in R&D beers and limited local offerings. Firestone Walker is also the brewery behind 805, one of the nation’s fastest-growing beers. Firestone Walker was recently named “Best American Brewery of the Decade” by Paste Magazine.