It feels like I haven't been to a hop farm since 1911, though I suppose it can't be quite that long ago. So it was good to return to one of the Redsell's farms for an IBD do.
They grow 90% English hops (mostly East Kent Goldings, Challenger and Fuggle with some Admiral) though they do have some foreign varieties.
American hops Cascade and Centennial are grown and the high alpha variety Eureka is being trialled.
Lager hops Perle, H. Tradition and Akoya are being trialled. Akoya has been bred as a Perle replacement, having greater drought resistance.
They do have trickle irrigation at Redsell's but it's not as good as rain.
They don't seem to have safety shoes though.
The English hop crop is estimated to be down 20% and overall Europe down 22%, the American crop is expected to be close to average.
I'm surprised by the 20% drop in the English crop production. There seems to be an abundance of wild hops in Addlestone/Chertsey area. I picked some for the first time in several years... Red bines this time, but there are plenty of white bines out there as well.
ReplyDeleteAs an update, I've heard that although the yield is down, the overall quality is up. Swings and roundabouts.
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