Growing Hops in the Northeast

Check in with Marini Farms up in Ipswich. IIRC they supply the hops for Ipswich's harvest ale

 

I know Kent Falls grow their own hops as well.

 

Cascade hops do great in New England. I believe there's an organic hop farm in Maine that's growing Cascades.

 

University of Vermont has had a commercial hop-growing program and annual conference for the last 5 years for those interested in cultivating hops for sale.

 

Trillium has also added this outside Fort Point some time recently: https://imgur.com/a/Adiej

 

Canterbury AleWorks in Canterbury, NH has a small, thriving, and absolutely beautiful hops operation - not to mention really good beer! I recommend a road trip some Saturday.

 

I've been growing hops for the last 6 or 7 years, albeit more at the homebrew level than commercial farm level (i get a few pounds each year). I grow centennial and cascade, both do great in Southern NH. For a few years my dad grew nugget and mt hood close by and they did not do well at all.

 

I do not think you can grow them do to copyright stuff. Only certain hops are currently available.

 

This is correct

 

Four Star Farms in Northfield Mass grows hops commercially.

 

Hop breeding and plant maturation takes years. Hop Breeding Company (HBC) holds rights to Citra, Mosaic and Equinox, YCR (select botonicals) holds Simoe, Warrior, anthum ...and Galaxy was bred by HPA (Hop Products Australia). Hop breeding is almost like developing new drugs...it takes years and climate has huge impact on hop plants. There is more to it than get some rhizome of Citra and start growing in your back yard.

 

How about Czech or German hops (Noble Hops) in New England? I'd imagine that our climates would be somewhat similar, maybe with a more intense summer the more southern you go in New England, but I would think these varieties would be pretty hardy. Love to hear the input.

 

Very much so, as @zeuiax pointed out above.

Even if you were somehow able to get your hands on a Galaxy rhizome, and successfully cultivate it, it would almost certainly be different than the Australian import. For example, Fuggle (classic UK hop) wasn't growing well, so the Willamette hop came to be. The two are very closely related, but they're distinctly different hops, partially because of the divergence in lineage, partly because of terroir.

 

Cascade from PNW, NY, Australia and NZ are all same hop but tastes completely different.

 

May be possible but Sun matter more than anything else. However, NE does fall in hop growing belt.

 

I'm no botanist (and only a moderately successful gardener), but I think anything is possible with enough work. I don't see why you couldn't set up a sort of green house (think the show Weeds, both in scale and clandestine nature) to control every condition, but at that point you'd be better off buying in bulk...

Also, check out the homebrew forum. Stuff on growing hops there 'crops' up from time to time.

 

There's only a handful of varieties that are actually in demand that do well here if you look at U of Vermont results and read other threads.

Anecdotally CBC made a good beer with hops from Northfield, MA (four star farms) and Sebago made a good beer with all ME ingredients from what I recall.

Since no one has mentioned Chinook - it's another to consider looking into. I got good results in my backyard in central MA, not sure if it's commercially viable here.

 

I'm growing Saaz in my backyard, which have shot up a bunch in the last week or two. It's only year 2 though. Last year was about getting them established. This year my fingers are crossed for some cones to harvest come fall (along with the Sorachi Ace I planted) to make a saison.

 

This is year 3 of growing Citra in my backyard, and each year it has doubled in size, strength, smell, and yield

 

Are you sure its CITRA? Even if it is...I am not sure if its a good idea to say it out loud here. Unless you acquired it legitimately.

 

In short, HBC has rights on Citra. They wont sell the rhizomes to public. I am not sure how you can find one to grow in your back yard.
hopfenunmaltz, Jan 4, 2016

 

Like was already mentioned, day-length has a huge impact on the character of the final product but would say that it tends to dictate more what varieties a grower can grow as certain ones need the extra hours that Yakima sees, and I would say that terroir probably has a bigger impact on hops than it does on grapes. Folks I know in Michigan sent me down some of their Chinook a few years ago, pineapple! Mine, here in NEOhio, have a huge spearmint character. Here's a good analysis of the same varieties grown only a few miles away from each other: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/...echnologyEffectHarvestMaturity.pdf?sequence=1

 

I am sure it is Citra, as planted the Rhizomes myself. Legitimate? I was gifted 2 of these from a homebrew supply shop a few years back. As stated, growing very well and am excited to make another wet hop beer come Fall.
As a side note, I have started to hear from some beer stores that a new marketing plan put out by a local brewery will be, buy a 12 pack and get a rhizome, I believe Cascade, but really only remember it was a C hop. Sooo, keep your eyes open and happy planting!

 

How do you even know the rhizome was from a Citra planting? Considering you've had them for a few years, and if wherever you got them grew them from wet hop clippings, that means they had the wet hop clippings and started their process in 2010… seems suspect.

 

If that's Citra then lucky you. I would really appreciate if you could post picture of cones when they are ready to harvest.

 

I bought a Cascade and Centennial rhizome a few years ago from the Modern Homebrew Emporium in Cambridge. Third year in the Cascade is the clearly the one that grows the best for me.

I plant them in a narrow strip of dirt between our driveway and the foundation wall of our three family, which faces due south. So not only does it get good sun, but that concrete keeps it pretty warm at night as well. I have a trellis that I wove some bamboo stakes through that gives me up to about 10 feet. The Centennial made it to the top last year. The Cascade was a the top by the end of june and looks like it will be again this year. I'm going to tack some monofilament lines to the window frames on my second floor apartment and run them down to the trellis to give them more room to grow this year.

My next brew is going to be with the pound or so of dried hops I have from last year. I expect a bigger crop this year.