John Segal
Special guest
John was a hop geek at birth. Proof? He brought a block of hops to show-and-tell in first grade. He received his brewing legs at Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, fresh out of college. After his stint at Anchor, John joined the family hop business. Five years later he parted company with his father to work in the media industry.
When his father passed away, John stepped back into the business. An alarming landscape in the hop industry awaited him. Craft brewers were paying exorbitant prices for their hops from intermediaries. Worse, to get hops, craft brewers had to sign five-year contracts.
At that time, Segal Ranch had been an Anheuser-Busch grower for over 25 years and Anchor Brewing Company was our only craft brewing partner. The direct relationship between our ranch and these brewers created opportunities for collaboration, experimentation and innovation. John envisioned broadening the range of craft brewers that Segal Ranch served and replicating this productive grower-to-brewer model.
Today, Segal Ranch has wonderful direct relationships with some of the top craft breweries in the world. And John is having a blast doing it.
John Segal has been a guest on 1 episode.
-
Episode 258: Sustainability of the American Hop Industry
September 5th, 2022 | 1 hr 23 mins
The popularity of heavily-hopped beer styles has put USA hops front and center, but threats are looming; wildfire, climate change, water availability, the loss of hop farming families, and the ongoing shift from public to private hops. Hop growers Darren Gamache (VGF) and John Segal (Segal Ranch), master brewer Karl Ockert, and hop consultant Eric Sannerud joined John Bryce on stage during the 2022 Brewing Summit to discuss these topics and more.