Cool charity idea: Hogs Back Brewery ‘Adopt a Hop’ helps Hospice Care

Hogs Back Brewery of Tongham, Surrey, England, has signed up Hospice Care charity Phyllis Tuckwell as its charity partner for its forthcoming Adopt a Hop project. Local residents, charities and businesses have been invited to plant their own hop in the Hogs Back’s new hop garden and get involved in helping it flourish from now until harvest next September. The new hop garden spans 8.5 acres, more than double the size of the previous site. It is located within Manor Farm in Tongham, where the brewery itself is sited, in a prime location on the best land on the farm.

As part of the move, Hogs Back has offered the public the opportunity to Rehome a Hop by taking home a Pioneer variety dwarf hop plant for their own garden, in return for a suggested £5 donation to Phyllis Tuckwell. The money raised will add to the £10,000 which Hogs Back Brewery has already presented to Phyllis Tuckwell at the brewery’s Hop Harvest Party in Tongham in September.

“We were delighted to welcome Nick to the brewery to plant Phyllis Tuckwell’s hop,” said Rupert Thompson, managing director of Hogs Back Brewery. “When we decided to move and expand the hop garden, we wanted to thank the local community and give them a chance to share in our hop growing journey in the future. As our charity partner for 2018-’19, Phyllis Tuckwell is a key part of that community.”

Hogs Back is planning more fundraising activities for the next year, the proceeds of which will be added to an additional £10,000 which they have already pledged, to be presented to Phyllis Tuckwell in September 2019. All the money raised will go towards helping fund the vital supportive and end-of-life care which Phyllis Tuckwell offers to local patients and families who are living with an advanced or terminal illness, such as cancer.

Hogs Back Brewery harvested the first hops from its own hop garden in September 2015 on a 3.5-acre plot adjacent to the brewery, bringing the traditional but near-extinct Farnham White Bine hop variety back to its Surrey home. They are now in the process of moving the hop garden to a site more than double the size of the existing one, which will ultimately provide 50 percent of their hop requirements.