Laura Ten Eyck - The Hop Growers Handbook: The Essential Guide for Sustainable, Small-Scale Production for Home and Market

Praise forThe Hop Growers Handbook

If you want to grow hops, read this book through; then put it on your nightstand and read it every night to remind yourself of whats coming next. Its a seriously informative and surprisingly engaging book, full of resources and wise advice about all phases of growing, harvesting, and selling the buds that flavor the brew.

JOAN DYE GUSSOW, author of Growing, Older and This Organic Life

While driving on rural roads in the northeastern United States, if you look carefully you may notice wild hop vines twining their way up utility poles and signposts, feral reminders of a once-thriving hop industry and a time when brewing and the production of the raw materials used in beermaking were both local endeavors. And while craft brewers helped launch the local food movement over three decades ago, the local production of brewing ingredients has lagged behind. The Hop Growers Handbook, packed with research and practical advice, is an invaluable tool for reuniting regional brewers with regional growers. This delightful and useful book should be part of any brewers or small-scale farmers essential library.

PETER EGELSTON, founder and president, Smuttynose Brewing Company

I have spent the last several years working with an eclectic group of new hop growers, including Ten Eyck and Gehring, in New York and other eastern states. Up until now I have had to tell them that there is no cookbook for growing hops on a smaller, but commercial, scale. There is much information on the Internetbut most is anecdotal, unproven, and geared toward backyard home-brew enthusiasts. Now I can point people to this well-thought-out and informative publication. This is a great step forward for the new hop industry!

STEVE MILLER, hops specialist, Cornell University

How exciting to begin to see the principles of healthy growing brought to the hop yard! This handbook richly shares wisdom on hop horticulture as well as trellising, harvesting, and drying methods. But Ten Eyck and Gehring properly take the discussion furtherweaving in biodiversity, disease acumen, and compost-based nutrition. Local brews deserve local hops, creating yet another quintessential niche for a savvy grower.

MICHAEL PHILLIPS, author of The Holistic Orchard and coauthor of The Herbalists Way

Beer from here! In their quest to re-establish hop growing in the Northeast, Laura Ten Eyck and Dietrich Gehring have compiled a holistic and adventuresome volume. We all benefit from their curiosity and action-research tactics. The local beer and brewery scene is heating up fast, and demand for local ingredients will continue to grow. I urge young farmers to study up and get in on the action!

SEVERINE VON TSCHARNER FLEMING, director, Greenhorns

Given the recent explosion of hop production in the Northeast, new growers are frantically looking for information. So, welcome to The Hop Growers Handbookthe only book covering practical hops production in the region. A timely and highly valuable resource for growers!

HEATHER DARBY, agronomy specialist, University of Vermont

Hop to itbut not so fast! Its best to learn from the trials and travails of the pioneers who have somehow busted through what recent generations have considered an impasse: growing the hops for truly local beer and reviving a commercial hop industry in parts of the United States that a century ago caved to the success of growers in other, far-flung regions. A how-to guide without a narrative of successes, failures, and subsequent innovations is a recipe for disaster, not to mention boredom. Laura Ten Eyck and Dietrich Gehring lived and share the compelling story of the recent resurgence of hop production in the Northeasta high-flying grassroots movement bringing together hopophiles, dusted-off texts of a bygone era, terroir aficionados, cutting-edge farmers, and creative extension agents. Their book elevates hops knowledge to a new level while making even the most far-reaching possibilities tenable. Prost to the plant ready to take over and offer yet another convivial contribution to our local foodand drink renaissance! Hop, hop, hoorah!

PHILIP ACKERMAN-LEIST, author of Rebuilding the Foodshed

The Hop Growers Handbook is a fantastic source of information that will absolutely help revive the small-scale hop-growing industry of New York and other eastern states. Ten Eyck and Gehring give experienced and novice farmers alike a structured plan to efficiently start and maintain a hop yard at the most ideal scale for todays local hop markets. Farm brewers and microbreweries should be excited, as this book will surely help make locally grown hops more readily available in the coming years. The authors and their Indian Ladder Farmstead Brewery and Cidery have continued to stay ahead of the curve on hop growing, harvesting, and processing. The hard work and time put into this book benefits all of us in the small-scale brewing industry. As a Brooklyn-based brewer, Im eager to watch the regrowth of a product with such heritage in the state of New York, and I look forward to making more great beers brewed with more quality, locally grown hops.

MATT MONAHAN, cofounder and co-owner, Other Half Brewing Company

Copyright 2015 by Laura Ten Eyck and Dietrich Gehring.

All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by Dietrich Gehring. No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Editor: Joni Praded

Project Manager: Patricia Stone

Copy Editor: Eric Raetz

Proofreader: Eileen M. Clawson

Indexer: Ruth Satterlee

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Page Layout: Abrah Griggs

Printed in the United States of America.

First printing August, 2015.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 16 17 18

Our Commitment to Green Publishing

Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative (www.greenpressinitiative.org), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The Hop Growers Handbook was printed on paper supplied by Quad Graphics that contains at least 10% postconsumer recycled fiber.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Eyck, Laura A. Ten, author.

The hop growers handbook : the essential guide for sustainable,small-scale production for home and market / Laura Ten Eyck and Dietrich Gehring.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-60358-555-2 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-60358-556-9 (ebook)

1. Hops--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Gehring, Dietrich, 1962 author. II. Title.

SB317.H64E93 2015

633.8'2dc23

2015013327

To our family, friends, and neighbors, without whom our farm, this book, and the Indian Ladder Farmstead Brewery and Cidery would not have been possible