Fresh Organic Hops in Ottawa/Gatineau region

Hi,

I would like to introduce myself as a new member to this list. I have been an amateur homebrewer for a number of years and really enjoy well-crafted home brews. Last year my partner and I started growing hops on our organic farm in West Quebec. We initially planted 6 different varieties of hops in circular test plots to see which would do well in our soil conditions. This year we expanded our hops yard to an additional 200 plants in 300 ft rows with plans to add another 200 plants next year.

This year was a very good year for growing hops so we are in the midst of a bountiful harvest. I would like to get in touch with home brewers in the Ottawa/Gatineau region to see if anyone would be interested in brewing a batch of "harvest" ale using fresh organic hops. My son and I brewed a Double IPA last weekend using freshly picked Cascade and Nugget which is fermenting very nicely this week.

We will have both Cascade and Hallertauer hops available next week as we are getting some friends together to pick hops this weekend. If there is enough brewers interested we could arrange a drop off point in Ottawa/Gatineau where you could pick up your order of hops.

If you are interested please get in touch with me via email or by phone.

Cheers,
Richard
Bristol Hops
www.bristolhops.ca
819-647-3467

Hi Richard and welcome! I brew using organic ingredients and deeply appreciate those of you who produce those ingredients.

I've been purchasing hops through Seven Bridges Cooperative (www.breworganic.com) Last year, there were almost no Northern American grown organic hops available - they mostly came from New Zealand and Europe. This year, they have a number of NA grown organic hops available, from the pacific northwest and Colorado.

Do you sell directly to non-local consumers? Thanks and best wishes on your farm!

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the words of encouragement. We are trying to concentrate on our local market for this year because we are picking the hops fresh and then just freezing them as whole leaf hops. If we tried to ship them to you I am not sure how fresh they would be when they arrive there.

Have you purchased wet hops from Seven Bridges this year? I would be interested to know how they are packaging and shipping them to you.

The pricing is interesting because generally the ratio to wet hops vs dry hops is 5 to 1. So if your recipe calls for 3oz of dry hops you would need to use 15oz of wet hops.

Cheers,
Richard

Richard, I buy whole hops from Seven Bridges, but they are dried. I try to buy a larger volume in July, when they have an annual sale - lower prices plus I save on shipping. I bought 2 lbs. total, divided between Cascade, East Kent Goldings, Hallertauer and Fuggles.

Good luck with your venture, it sounds great! As I said in my earlier post, its really heartening to see North American farmers growing organic hops, since I've been buying them from New Zealand farmers previously.

Crannog here in BC brews great beer and sells organic hops.
http://www.crannogales.com/farm.html