Heard it through the hop vine: Dairy to hops update, Virginia Gov. plants hops

Craft Brewers Conference hops — There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh hops. If this latest crop of hops news is any indication — there will be a cornucopia of new hop sources to supply brewers.

Much like the leafy crop, hops industry news often comes in bushels. We harvested and collected some of the best below:

Dairy farm to hops farm update

Remember the Goodman family based in Fort Ann, N.Y.? They were on the cusp of turning their dairy farm into a hops operation at the end of April. Construction is in full swing on the Goodman farm and PostStar.com has the details. From PostStar.com:

Goodman and her father, Les Goodman, are hoping a hop yard of about 300 plants on a half-acre at the family’s Goodmanor Farm in Fort Ann will become profitable enough to let the family keep at least a portion of the property, which has been in the family for 160 years.

“The farm is 440 acres, so there’s definitely opportunities to do more,” Goodman said last week. “But it would be interesting to explore what other ingredients we could look into — you know, barley or wheat or something along those lines.”
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She and her father have raised about $10,500 through Indiegogo, a crowdfunding website. That amount was enough to get the hops farm off the ground and will provide a good start for next year’s efforts, Goodman said.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. hosted hops researchers

HeraldNet reported that California-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. spent three days with two Washington State University researchers in March. The researchers, who focus on production of hops in Washington state, “learned how to prevent oxidation in beer to control bitterness.” Check out HeraldNet for the full story.

Virginia Governor plants hops

Everyone is getting in on the hop growing action! In April, Ohio-based Fat Heads Brewery was giving away hop plants for customers to cultivate. Now, word from the Washington Examiner is that Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell planted a total of about 15 hops vines on the grounds of the governor’s Richmond mansion. From the Washington Examiner:

“The craft brew industry is really, really growing, and we wanted to do something here at the governor’s mansion similar to what we did with the wine industry,” Haymore told us. “The ultimate end game for us, to help promote the industry further, is to harvest the hops, turn them over to a craft brewery and potentially make some sort of a commemorative beer, craft beer to highlight the industry but also recognize the 200th anniversary of the Executive Mansion [this year].”

Harpoon session IPA to raise money in fight against ALS

Last week, 38 craft brewers across the country joined the Ales for ALS campaign in support of ALS TDI’s mission to discover and develop effective treatments for ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig‘s disease. Coming off the tail end of that announcement is the news that Harpoon’s Session IPA will launch at the Harpoon Beer Hall. $1 will be donated for every pint sold, according to MorningSun.net.