I think it's a combination of several things. One of the big influences (I think) is that microbreweries have increased significantly, and the interest in homebrewing is on the rise, and that has caused a greater demand for more and unique hop varieties.jmcnamara said:unfortunately not. but they do sound very interesting, i'll have to add them to my list of stuff to try. seems to me like hop varieties have really exploded lately, or at least their widespread availability has.