Lagunitas Brewing of Petaluma, California, is a big exponent of local ingredients, though usually food. But now they’re trying to make a portion of the beer locally, too. Lagunitas has planted a 1/3 acre test plot in nearby Marshall, California, right on Tomales Bay. I’m not sure about the weather at that location — with fog and wind — but I certainly admire the effort. They’re planted two hop varieties, Emperor and Pathetique (really Nugget and Cascade, but Tony Magee renamed them since they’re not being grown in the Pacific Northwest — and apparently he’s a big fan of Beethoven). If all goes well, they plan on developing five acres at the same location. Obviously, this won’t meet all of their hop needs, but I think it’s great that brewers are looking to grow their own hops and take a greater ownership of what goes into their beer. Now if we can just pull out all those grapes and get hops growing again in Hopland.
The Lagunitas Hopfields.
UPDATE 4.18: The Marin I.J., my local paper, also did a nice story on the new Lagunitas hopfield, in which they quote yours truly.
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April 17th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I applaud the effort that many brewers and homebrewers are making in growing their own hops. Makes me feel that this hop shortage won’t last too long. Just out of curiosity, were these hop trellises staked in any particular direction? North to South, or East to West? Just wondering if there is an optimal direction to plant hops in so that they can get the most sunshine. Looks like a gorgeous place to grow hops with a view of the bay.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
My recollection from dirt farming my patch is that most plants like this go in rows laid out north-south to maximize the sunlight to the most of the plant. I think the shadow to the lower left might confirm that.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Here’s the link to my newspaper’s story (I didn’t write it, but I edited it)
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_8975862
Jay, maybe you can add this link to your entry since you’re quoted in the story …
Cheers.