You may think based on the title of this post it would be about Hop root stock or rhizomes, but in truth many Hop growers "roots" go back to home brewing. Getting together with friends and brewing up recipes together is probably the only alternative to watching College Football or Pro Football that many of us guys have to get together outside of maybe hunting.
Home brewing has caught fire lately. Its growth can be died directly to the rise of Craft Beer nationally. New home brew supply stores have been popping up, even though out the Southeast where years ago many claimed that the South would not embrace craft breweries. The though was the popular "Nascar" demographic throughout the South would not appreciate craft beer as much as other parts of the country. Well, the South is proving them all wrong.
If you have been home brewing than you know all about the trips to the supply store concerning hops and malts. A few of us about four years ago thought it would be great if we could eliminate the rising costs of Hops by planting them so we could share with our friends and other home brewers. What started out as a few dozen pots will top almost three thousand plants in 2014.
What we have discovered is a lot of our home brew friends do not have the capacity to grow hops in the areas of the City in which they live. Either they lack the space or more importantly lack the sunlight required due to the amount of trees in and around their homes. After a few years of talking about this dilemma and witnessing the rising costs of hops either online or at the supply store, we have decided to create a program that would FREE UP THE HOPS!!
What is the FREE UP THE HOPS program?
Home brewers from our local area will be provided a 250 foot row in the Hop yard where they can come out and plant the hops that they would like to work with and experiment with in their brewing. They can plant a variety of Hops and periodically check in with us and see how the Hops are progressing throughout the season. Once ready to harvest, we will let the home brewers know when the Hops will be ready for harvest so they can make sure to schedule some brewing time to utilize the fresh, whole cone hops for wet hopping. Of course, they can opt to have the harvest hops dried as well for use later if they do not plan to brew during the harvest period.
There is no cost for participation in the FREE THE HOPS program. All the plant material will be provided and space will be allocated on the Home Brewers Hop Row on a first come first serve basis or with the Home Brew Club directly. Participation however, does require the members/home brewers to come to the planting event and assist those that will be monitoring the development of the Hops in the yard throughout the season as well as participate in the harvest of the hops.
We think this is a Win-Win! It encourages more people to grow their own Hops for their brewing but also provides a bit of relief to the costs of home brewing which seem to rise every year.
So WHY is this happening?
Its very simple! The future of our regional brewing community is our home brewing community. Most of all the new breweries we have seen develop over the last two years are the work of home brewers taking their craft to the next level. In order for the Regional Hop Initiatives to reach their goals, home brewers must become comfortable working with locally sourced hops in order for them to have the confidence to procure local hops when they run commercial breweries. Its a partnership. We assist to educate home brewers on the hops themselves; how to plant, how to grow and what to look for at harvest in exchange for them brewing with local hops and experimenting with recipes they hope one day to take to the next level.
WIN WIN!!
Hop Forward!!!
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