High hops for region’s newest crop

Growing hops for fun in their backyard put a New Plymouth couple on the path to learning how to brew beer.

Now, they are developing a commercial hops orchard, one of two in Taranaki.

Quarter Acre Hops started off as an experiment, Richard and Helen Wills said.

It is more common for established home brewers to move to growing their own hops but they did it the other way round.

‘‘I saw them years ago on Country Calendar and wondered who was growing them here, then we got a couple for our garden and it went from there.

‘‘We grew them in town for four years, starting off with one or two plants.’’

In New Zealand hops are predominantly grown in Nelson but, convinced the hops would grow well in Taranaki, the couple bought a 4.4ha block of land at Tikorangi to develop into a commercial operation.

They have kept the name, Quarter Acre Hops, although the area already planted is nearly double that.

‘‘We have literally been here every weekend, we have had no summer holiday, this has been our passion for a few years now,’’ Helen said.

Sometimes, they camp on the mown paddock beside the frames the rampant plants (they are called bines) scramble up.

‘‘We will build a house here eventually,’’ Richard said.

He recently stopped work and is concentrating on the hops project and the property, while Helen works full-time as a planning manager.

The property was formerly an organic orchard, so it had well established shelter hedges that protect the hops from the wind which was the crop’s biggest challenge in Taranaki, he said.

‘‘The biggest thing is the infrastructure and the more you look after them, the more they will produce, like any plant.’’

Richard makes ‘‘all types and styles of beer’’ using their own hops but local craft brewers are also keen to source Taranaki-grown hops.

This week, they spent a cheerful sunny afternoon with family members and a crew from Three Sisters Brewery harvesting a traditional English variety called Fuggle.

Glasses of beer kept the adults hydrated as the bines were cut down with the use of a 4.8-metre ladder, and the green flowers were handpicked and popped into bins and sacks.

Hops can be used fresh (wet), ideally the day they are picked, or kiln dried and processed into pellets.

The hops harvested on Wednesday went straight into a 600 litre batch of a witbier that will be spiced with orange peel and coriander seeds.

‘‘There is a spiciness in these hops which should complement that quite well, I am quite excited,’’ Three Sisters owner and head brewer Joe Emans said.

It is the third year he has bought hops from Quarter Acre, and he is keen to see a lot more hops grown in Taranaki.

‘‘There is something to be said about having a connection with your ingredients,’’ he said.

‘‘Being a craft brewer, we love getting local ingredients; if we could get local hops all year round, that is a dream.

‘‘All we need now, is for someone to grow barley,’’ Emans said.

The other couple growing hops in Taranaki are Tim and Maggie Verry at Tarata.

Their crop has also just been harvested and is being brewed at Shining Peak Brewery.

The hops orchards are part of Venture Taranaki’s Branching Out project, which was set up to identify and develop crops and products that can be produced commercially in Taranaki, to diversify the dairy-dominated region.

Now in its second phase, the project is focusing on hemp fibre for construction, medicinal ingredients, indigenous ingredients, hops, gin botanicals, and high-value food crops.

Research was under way into the infrastructure that would be needed to scale up hops growing, including a drying facility, and this could possibly also be used for medicinal plants and indigenous ingredients, project manager Michelle Bauer said.

‘‘It is great to see some brave individuals taking up these ventures off their own backs, like Richard and Helen and the Verrys.

‘‘They have seen a gap in the market, not just for New Zealand hops but Taranaki-grown. We are very excited to see what is coming in the next few weeks.’’

Both Shining Peak and Three Sisters are pouring their beers made with the local hops at the Taranaki Beer Festival in New Plymouth on March 31, she said.