Not the fires as far as I know. I'm heading up to Yakima for the harvest and Hop & Brew School in a couple weeks, so I can report after that.
But there really isn't...that's why hop growing concentrated in the PNW. It's good to see it growing in other regions, but there's a reason they stopped growing hops in those other regions before.
Not any more. They were concerned about being too dependent on one type, so now the word is they blend 17 different varieties.
Much of it was for the same reason that the number of breweries declined too, not because of climate.
My FIL's uncle has land in Minnesota and he and his uncle went to the university to talk to the guy there that is in charge of their hop program. Basically his view was that the you can grow them just fine, but the cost to entry is high and you need specialized equipment, otherwise you need a huge labor force. My FIL's uncle decided to stick with corn. Farmers are generally conservative people and he was a gentlemans farmer so he didn't have to do much but make decisions on what to plant, when, and negotiating the contracts. He did say that if we come up there we can have a half acre on a hill near the house to play around with, but it's on our dime. He's a tough old guy.