Bringing Hops Back to Kent By David Poore
It is two years since a small group of friends came together to talk about the idea of a community hop farm in Hythe, and took the first important decisions… such as what to call ourselves… and we became Hythe Hops. Over the course of these two years we have grown significantly from the group of six or so that originally chewed over the idea over a glass of beer or two. So, what have we achieved, where are we now and what plans/hopes do we have for the future?
We have grown our community… the germ of our idea is now a very solid reality. Our 119 members tend 195 hop plants in 99 locations in private gardens, allotments, in pots and in the ground. Whilst we are all “Hythe Hops growers” our hops are also to be found in Sandgate, Folkestone, Dymchurch, Ashford, Acrise, Sellindge and Lydd. We have harvested our hops successfully and this process is a new experience to (almost) all of our members. The challenge is to organise to one (or more) days convenient for as many growers as possible to harvest and deliver these in preparation for the next stage of their journey. Across two harvest days this year growers picked 71kg of hops to be weighed in and logged for bagging up and delivery onward to our partners. Those partners are local brewers and dryers – HopFuzz has supported us generously this year and last; Docker Brewery is a new partner this year. This season we have dried about half of our harvest, thanks to a further new partner, Hukins Hops at Tenterden. Our hops make good beer! Hop Buzz (a green hop ales) was our first brew this year –
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the same recipe as last year - and has been very well received in local pubs from Folkestone to Dymchurch. After this initial brew, we can now also use our dried hops to continue to deliver beer made with local hops right through to Summer 2021! Fortunately, under current Covid-19 restrictions, Docker Brewery is making all of our brews with them available in cans and will even do home delivery! What have we learned? Although generally tough and easy to grow, hop plants are not indestructible – and the dry and windy weather this year was especially challenging for both new and second year hop plants. Some fell prey to sooty mould, others to wind damage, lack of water and others never really got out of the blocks. Luckily, these long-lived plants are very hardy, and in most cases we expect they will revive next season and continue to crop for up to 15 years. One thing we can confirm: a zinc-galvanised grower is not suitable for a hop plant – certain death! Where are we headed? A good number of local pubs and hotels have joined our community and grow hops in their beer
© Paul Cochrane
© Paul Cochrane
© Paul Cochrane
gardens, and this is a connection that we hope to expand. Growing hops and then selling beer made with those same hops is proof of the local food story that we are proud of. We also would like to see more hops grown on community land, and there are discussions underway which we hope will see sponsored hops around Hythe and maybe elsewhere. The Covid-19 situation this year has severely limited our social activities, and whilst Zoom is very useful, it cannot replace the face to face mingling and chatting that brings our community together. We have every hope that next year will be very different and bigger! We are always looking for new members, so why not join our merry band of local growers: For more info visit: http://hytheenvironmental.community/ hythe-community-hop-farm/ To sign up with Hythe Hops next year: email hythe.hops@gmail.com
