Sonoma Beerocrats

We will be tasting and judging the Iron Brewer Beers at 6:30pm on March 25 at the BP classroom.

If you’ve found yourself short on hops this year, consider growing your own. Last year I put 6 plants in the ground and had enough hops to brew a batch of Fresh Hop IPA. This year I’m adding a bunch more plants and am looking forward to being able to brew a bigger batch of wet hop IPA and still have a bunch of dried hops left over for aroma additions and dry hopping.

The Beverage People and other outlets are now taking orders for rhizomes (hop root cuttings). Of course, you’ll want to support your local brew shop just like I do!

Sonoma County was once a major hop producing region and the plants are pretty resilient to even the worst efforts of an amateur gardener (like me). Ideally you’d put ‘em in the ground, but a half wine barrel will do the trick, too.

For more info on planting hops check out the Freshops.com website, shoot me an email, or pick up the little paperback book that the Beverage People carry.