brewt00l
Well-Known Member
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/features/17538819.html
Some interesting tidbits if you don't want to read the whole thing:
In central Pennsylvania, for example, brewers Ryan Richards and Jesse Rotz have spent the past weeks planting 200 hop rhizomes on a family farm near Gettysburg. "I'm not expecting very many hops in the first year," said Richards, who expects to open Roy Pitz Brewing in Chambersburg in June. "But hopefully after the second year, we'll have significant yield that we can use for our own beer, plus trade and sell online."
Jason Harris at Keystone Homebrew Supply in Montgomeryville said he sold about 600 hop rhizomes last year. This year he ordered 1,200 and sold them all at $4.50 each before ordering another 700. "The orders are coming in fast," said Harris. "I've been sending them to California, Texas - all over the place."
Indeed, some microbrewers have already pulled on their overalls. In California, the Sierra Nevada, Bear Republic and Moonlight breweries all own hops farms that supplement their supplies. Orlando Segura of Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewing said his brewery has begun planting organic hops at two farms in Wisconsin, partly to avoid the difficulty of importing them from New Zealand. "The whole idea is to become more local," Segura said. "Our goal is to revive the entire hops industry in the Midwest . . . The potential is there and the willingness is there - not just from the beer producers, but a lot of farmers are interested, too."
Some interesting tidbits if you don't want to read the whole thing:
In central Pennsylvania, for example, brewers Ryan Richards and Jesse Rotz have spent the past weeks planting 200 hop rhizomes on a family farm near Gettysburg. "I'm not expecting very many hops in the first year," said Richards, who expects to open Roy Pitz Brewing in Chambersburg in June. "But hopefully after the second year, we'll have significant yield that we can use for our own beer, plus trade and sell online."
Jason Harris at Keystone Homebrew Supply in Montgomeryville said he sold about 600 hop rhizomes last year. This year he ordered 1,200 and sold them all at $4.50 each before ordering another 700. "The orders are coming in fast," said Harris. "I've been sending them to California, Texas - all over the place."
Indeed, some microbrewers have already pulled on their overalls. In California, the Sierra Nevada, Bear Republic and Moonlight breweries all own hops farms that supplement their supplies. Orlando Segura of Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewing said his brewery has begun planting organic hops at two farms in Wisconsin, partly to avoid the difficulty of importing them from New Zealand. "The whole idea is to become more local," Segura said. "Our goal is to revive the entire hops industry in the Midwest . . . The potential is there and the willingness is there - not just from the beer producers, but a lot of farmers are interested, too."
