{"id":11405,"date":"2015-07-27T11:25:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T18:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=11405"},"modified":"2015-07-27T14:44:03","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T21:44:03","slug":"local-beers-with-local-hops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2015\/07\/27\/local-beers-with-local-hops\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Beers with Local Hops"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s that time of the year again, SD beer drinkers. Farmers \u2013 or more specifically, members of the newly-formed San Diego Hop Growers Association<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 are gearing up to literally reap what they’ve sown. Below is an incomplete round-up of our local farms and the breweries that plan to brew with their products. If you know of others, leave a comment so we can update the post.<\/p>\n

Hopportunity Farms<\/strong> in Julian is in their eighth year of growing hops, producing Cascade, Nugget, Brewer’s Gold, Magnum, Centennial, Golding and Willamette varieties this year. They also have an interesting hop that was brought to Julian by gold miners in the 1890s and used at the local brewery (where the museum now sits). Farm proprietor Phil Warren asked for permission to take some rhizomes from the wild-growing plot next to the museum; he calls the hop \u201cJulian Gold\u201d, and says it is reminiscent of the Cluster variety. Homebrewers can pick their own hops at Hopportunity on August 2, 9, 14, 15, 23 & 29; contact Phil @ 858.735.2977 for more info.<\/p>\n

ZZ Hops<\/strong> in Ramona is in their first year of growing hops, and the farmers have been pleasantly surprised by how well the Cascade, Nugget, and Chinook hops are forming. Bruce told WC they were worried about the massive rains in Ramona in July, but that not too many hops had been lost. ZZ Hops is planning to join the local homebrew clubs to spread the word about their farm. Over the next two springs they’ll plant 1,000 hop bines.<\/p>\n

Nopalito Farms<\/strong> in Valley Center promises to be one of the most active growers and sellers this year. They’re working with at least five local breweries, plus Tijuana’s Cervecer\u00eda Insurgente<\/strong>, which is planning a small, two-barrel Chinook and Cascade wet hop ale for their newly-opened tasting room. Two SD breweries will give their core beers a wet hop treatment: Fall Brewing<\/strong> with (TBD hops) Spirit of ’77; and Intergalactic<\/strong> with Chinook and Cascade Andromeda IPA. Nickel Beer Co.<\/strong> and Monkey Paw\/South Park Brew Co. are planning special brews as well. Tom Nickel at Julian’s Nickel Beer Co. brewed with 42 pounds of fresh Cascade and Chinook on July 27 to commemorate his twentieth year in San Diego’s beer industry; he started full-time at Home Brew Mart in August of 1995. The beer is called My Way IPA. Cosimo Sorrentino at Monkey Paw\/South Park Brew Co.<\/strong> is planning two same-day brews. In the first and second weeks of August, he’ll be in Valley Center at 5 a.m. to help start picking, before driving down around noon to start the brew while the hops are being stripped. The first batch, at SPBC, will likely be more \u201cEnglish\/Northwest\u201d and Chinook-heavy. The Monkey Paw Same Day XPA will feature Crystal and Zeus. Nopalito Farms has taken over the plot of ZP Growers<\/strong>, which kept the name and moved over to Fallbrook. Owner Lyle Kafader told us they’ll be supplying homebrewers this year as they ramp up production.<\/p>\n

\"via<\/a>
via ChuckAlek\/Hopatul 2014 brew<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SD Golden Hop Farm<\/strong> in Fallbrook is another busy bee this year. Rough Draft<\/strong> plans to brew a full Cascade variation of their Eraser IPA, which normally uses Cascade and Amarillo. Another Nickel Beer Co. brew will feature SD Golden’s Glacier Hops in an English Bitter. North Park’s Mike Hess Brewing<\/strong> is planning a combination SD Golden and Hops Meister beer with Cascade and Ivanhoe in the first week of August, as part of the Via Hess seasonal series. Culture <\/strong>will brew a Cascade-hopped IPA, plus they’ll purchase some bines for their tasting rooms to play an\u00a0educational, interactive\u00a0role.\u00a02Kids<\/strong> will also likely use hops from this farm in wet hop brews. SD Golden Hop Farm also plans to offer wet, as well as dried, whole hops to homebrewers, plus tours and \u201cu-pick\u201d days in August (see SDGoldenHopFarm.com).<\/p>\n

Hopatul Farms<\/strong> in Alpine, with ex-Main Tap Tavern owner Zack Summers at the helm, has big plans in the works. They’re again collaborating with ChuckAlek<\/strong> on a wet hop beer, while also producing organic produce on-site. Eventually, Summers wants to host large events on his property; at their website you can see just how much they’re working the land. QUAFF and Foam on the Brain members are known to make the trek out to Alpine every year for these hops, which include Chinook and Zeus this year.<\/p>\n

Goat House Hops<\/strong> in Vista is another farm in their first year of production, boasting \u00be acre with 700 plants spanning four varieties: Cascade, Chinook, Nugget and Zeus. Owner Rafael has been in talks with local nanos since this year’s harvest is on the small side. Homebrewers can pick their own hops Monday to Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. in August, plus Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (contactgoat.house.farm@gmail.com)<\/p>\n

Renquist Farms<\/strong> in Valley Center is keeping it local by selling their Cascade hops to Valley Center Brewery<\/strong> for a yet-unnamed IPA. They also grow Nugget variety.<\/p>\n

Bear Valley Organic Farms<\/strong> in Valley Center is skipping this season to rebuild their hop trellis system. Certified organic for four years, this \u00bc acre farm usually supplies Electric Brewing Co.<\/strong> in Murrieta as well as the farm’s \u00bd barrel SABCO system.<\/p>\n

Star B Ranch<\/strong> in Ramona is home to a massive German hop harvester. This year they’re growing Cascade, Chinook, Crystal and Nugget; Chinook and Cascade will go into yet another Nickel Beer Co.<\/strong> brew on August 3 or 4, possibly with Crystal and\/or Nugget for the “dry” hopping.\u00a0Red Alpha Hops<\/strong> in Vista grows Cascade, Chinook, Galena, Nugget and Zeus. Big Boulder Hops<\/strong> in Ramona grows Centennial and Golding. Mission Hops<\/strong> in Fallbrook grows Cascade, Chinook and Nugget. Many of these local farmers will be supplying local home brew shops with their goodies.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
courtesy SD Golden Hop Farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More Brews of Note:<\/span><\/p>\n

Border<\/strong>\u00a0X,\u00a0<\/b>for the second year running, will brew Abuelo’s Pale Ale, which combines homegrown hops with organic, dried figs.<\/p>\n

Ballast Point<\/strong> is planning a 60-BBL batch of Schooner with hops from Yakima, Washington’s Yakima Chief \u2013 Hopunion.<\/p>\n

Port Brewing<\/strong> has had to put their popular High Tide IPA on hiatus for this year with a new bottling line scheduled to arrive soon.<\/p>\n

Pizza Port’s<\/strong> four smaller brewpubs are all creating wet hop beers this year, utilizing Hopunion and Hops-Meister products. Ocean Beach: Get Wet, Coup d’etat; Solana Beach: Low Tide; Carlsbad: Raceway, Big Deal 2xIPA, TBD Lager, Dankside American Stout; San Clemente: Get to the Hopper, Riptide, Hoptoberfest.<\/p>\n

Mike Hess<\/strong> and crew have plans to brew a Chinook and Meridian \u201c40 Acre IPA\u201d with Indie Hops towards the end of August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s that time of the year again, SD beer drinkers. Farmers \u2013 or more specifically, members of the newly-formed San Diego Hop Growers Association\u00a0\u2013 are gearing up to literally reap what they’ve sown. Below is an incomplete round-up of our local farms and the breweries that plan to brew with their products. If you know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-2XX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}