• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Vermont Hops Project examines hop growing sustainability

April 11, 2013Jason Morgan

News of small scale hops growing projects have sprouted up across the country, but none before have laid claim to the throne of hops quite like Heather Darby, a Ph.D. agronomist and soil scientist for the University of Vermont Extension. She is leading a team in an effort to find and grow varieties of hops in Vermont. It is called the Vermont Hops Project, and its appeal has grown over the past four years as craft beers have risen to beer royalty.

The Waterbury Record crowned Darby as the queen of hops and profiled her quest to cultivate home grown hops. The past four years have brought some fruitful findings to the Vermont Hops Project, which most recently published an interesting and extensive look at hops growing trials in its 2012 Organic Hop Variety Trial: Results from Year Two this past February. The project’s hard work has stirred up interest.

From the Waterbury Record:

These days, though, it’s hops growing that leaves her “constantly bombarded with questions” and draws most of the attention. “Sometimes,” she says with a laugh, “I think it gets too much attention. But then, she says, what else would you expect “with anything that involves beer.”
…
The Hops Project is challenging because it is starting almost from scratch: There’s no “manual” for growing Vermont hops. For all their vigor as they climb to produce the female flowers — like little pine cones — that are added in the brewing process, hops are susceptible to myriad diseases and bugs, finicky about soil conditions and climate, and fragile despite their size. But they were grown in Vermont in the 1800s, as documented by Adam Krakowski for the Vermont Historical Society in his book, “A Bitter Past: Hop Farming in the 19th Century.”

The Vermont Hops Project at the University of Vermont has produced an abundance of hops growing resources. Be sure to check out the site for more videos like the one above, as well as excellent research materials and growing tips. For the full profile on Darby, head over to the Waterbury Record.

crosby hop farm hops plant cbb crop
The entire 2017 growing season gets time lapsed in this Crosby Hop Farm video
Founders hops cbb crop guy holding
Enjoy these videos of Founders Brewing touring the hop harvest
BREWD hop contract spreadsheet
Watch: Handy new, free tool for managing your hop contracts
Rub hops with Stone Brewing (Loral and Centennial varieties)

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joel Smith says

    April 12, 2013 at 8:29 am

    Joel Smith liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  2. 47Hops says

    April 12, 2013 at 12:38 am

    Experimental hop yard in Vermont. Lots of good information if you’d like to try to set your own up. Lots of… http://t.co/g2jb62lVCW

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Higher learning: Eastern Washington University and No-Li Brewhouse launch Craft Beer Certificate
  • Texas’ Bishop Cider is in explode mode, acquires two breweries, expanding to seven locations
  • Athletic Brewing earns Certified B Corp status as it celebrates four years
  • 2022 Beer Branding Trends Part 2: Beyond Beer

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • 2022 Beer Branding Trends Part 2: Beyond Beer
    May 23, 2022
  • The-IBA-TeamIBA hits milestone – 1 million bbls of buying power – what’s next for the co-op?
    May 19, 2022
  • 2022 beer branding trends part 1: reinvention
    May 17, 2022
  • satisfaction surveysAre brewery employees happy? Depends on the department
    May 16, 2022
  • Male hand closes hatch of brewery tankUnfiltered: Do I need to clean tanks between transfers?
    May 11, 2022
  • Hard seltzers: Achieve high alcohol fermentations in a clean and neutral way with the proper nutrient aids
    May 9, 2022

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2022 · CBB Media LLC

Posting....