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 doing very well in the primary fermenter 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

Good to see another Canadian grower, will you be shipping out west? If not I'll have to convince my family to come by and pick some up!

Good to hear from you.

We don't have any plans this year to ship hops out to the West Coast as I would be concerned that they would not be too fresh when they get there. In the future we may look at drying them and then vacuum-sealing them in foil packs. At the moment we are trying to check out the market for fresh organic hops in the Ottawa/Gatineau area as we are just picking them and then freezing them in zip loc freezer bags. As long as they are kept in the freezer they will last for 6 months before losing any significant amount of alpha acid, but I am not sure what will happen if your family tries to ship them to you.

I know that Crannog Ales (http://www.crannogales.com/) grow hops on the west coast, but I am not sure if they have hops available for purchase.