Hops are up!

The hops are up and ready for for twine, which means I have to get busy. I've added a small Centennial yard this spring as well as a drip irrigation system. The photos below are of Nugget and Centennial. The spring e-newsletter will be out soon so If your not on the mailing list, you should subscribe now.

Heritage Hops in the Michigan Beer Guide

Heritage Hops is mentioned in the article "Growing Hops in Michigan" in the November-December Michigan Beer Guide which is a feature about Bob Krieger of Saranac who has been successfully growing hops for several years. If you live in Michigan and are a beer enthusiast I highly recomend picking up a copy of the Michigan Beer Guide at your local brewery or fine beer (and wine) store. Not only is packed full of great information, its free. I'll be attending a seminar on growing hops in Michigan later this month and I'm looking forwad to meeting Bob Krieger, Rex Halfpenny (the editor of the Beer Guide) and all the other hop growing enthusiests.

Step One: The Field

This could be any tree-lined field in the Northern US. However, this happens to be the field were the vines of Heritage Hops will call home. It hasn't been tilled in 17 years. It will take some work to prepare the soil for the rhizomes, but hey, nothing good ever comes easy, right? We plan on following organic farming methods, however being "certified" organic is cost prohibitive at this point. Also, at this point, there are grass and shrubs in the field...get to work...

Welcome to the blog

Hello and welcome to the newly minted Heritage Hops blog. The format will change as time goes on, but this allows me to post for the time being! As it turns out, my garden hop stash is gone, so I had to buy hops at my local home brew shop. The selection was dismal, but I’m sure I can make a good brew. Let me know what your favorite hops are so I can get them in the ground this spring. Not much longer now…