As it stands, craft beer is set to overtake baseball as the nation’s pastime, and Richmond has been no slouch in contributing to the movement. We enjoy a diverse and vibrant selection of local craft beers. Yet for all our pint sinking, growler draining, bottle collecting, and Bluto Blutarsky-style can crushing, we’ve never been terribly concerned with where beer comes from.
As it stands, craft beer is set to overtake baseball as the nation’s pastime, and Richmond has been no slouch in contributing to the movement. We enjoy a diverse and vibrant selection of local craft beers. Yet for all our pint sinking, growler draining, bottle collecting, and Bluto Blutarsky-style can crushing, we’ve never been terribly concerned with where beer comes from.
While some may believe it to be drawn from secret wellsprings by leprechauns or the result of juicing frat boys, it is actually a process that involves time, yeast, and love, plus whatever ingredients you might add to jazz things up.
One of these ingredients, integral to many of your favorite types of beers, is hops, and you’ll be delighted to know many Richmond beers are brewed with Richmond hops.
Huguenot Hops provides several Virginia breweries with fresh hops, and thanks to a recently successful Kickstarter campaign, they will be expanding their operations and growing more hops than ever.
Devon Kistler, co-owner of Huguenot Hops, took some time to explain everything Huguenot Hops hopes to accomplish with their recently raised funds and the impact they’ve had on local brewers.
The money raised via Kickstarter will not only go to increase the yield of coming harvests, but also its variety. “We’re currently growing three different varieties of hops on 1.4 acres,” Kistler said. Thanks to their successful Kickstarter campaign, “we will double our hop yard to 2.5 acres and have 6 different varieties of hops growing for our 2015 harvest season.”
Irrigation, plants, and a trellis for the plants to grow on are also in the budget.
“We have a 21 ft. trellis system that we will build,” Kistler said. “The building of the trellis system is a one time investment, but it’s kind of costly to build up.” In addition to the trellis and an expanded irrigation system, Huguenot Hops “will be purchasing between 900 and 1200 hop plants for this expansion.”
Beer aficionados across the Commonwealth should rejoice at this news, considering the impact Huguenot Hops has already had on Virginia’s brewing industry.
“Here in Richmond, we sold hops to Strangeways Brewing and Hardywood Park Brewing,” Kistler said. “There are at this point 88 licensed breweries in the state, and I know that there’s at least ten more that are filing right now for their permits, so the craft beer industry is continuing to increase and having local hops makes a unique product.”
Luckily for Kistler, he has the opportunity to enjoy the fruit of his labors more than just figuratively. “It’s pretty fun to be able to go back and talk to the brewers and get their opinion on how the hops went in the brewing process and how they feel about the final product.”
Agriculture never tasted so bitter, but in a good way, of course.
The hop farming business might be a pricy endeavor, but for the good folks at Huguenot Hops, Kistler says, “I guess our passion is not so much about making money, but our passion is about supporting Virginia craft breweries and supporting them with a local farm product.” Thanks to the support of true believers, Huguenot Hops will continue to do their part to bring quality beer to thirsty Richmonders.
