Hops Gone Wild!

As some of you know, David Williams and I have been working on a hop patch at a friend’s place near Charleston, IL.  Admittedly, much of my involvement up to this point has consisted of sitting in the shade drinking beer or fishing with my friends while David toiled away, but at times in between naps I have pitched in and lent a hand as I am doing now.  Anyway, we wanted to see if any club members would be interested in coming down later this summer(late August) to help harvest and share in what should be the best crop yet, and have some fun and good food as well.

Many of the details are still being worked out, and will also depend on the amount of people interested.  Here are the highlights of what we are currently envisioning, provided there is a decent crop:

·        Helping with on-site harvesting, drying and packaging of hops.  In exchange, you will have the option of taking home a proportionate share of the crop(after a reasonable skim off the top by the proprietors of course).  Current hops are Cascade, Centennial, Nugget, Chinook and Columbus. 

·        Making of a collaborative “Wet-Hop” beer to be brewed on-site and put on tap at the brewhouse.

·        Making of another larger-batch collaborative “Fresh Hop” beer from freshly dried hops on-site, to be split between the brewhouse and part of the batch given back to the Balls.

·        Camping on-site at the Ball Farm with a great pond for fishing and swimming. 

·        A jockey-box for anyone who wants to bring and share kegged homebrew.

·        A Bragging Rights meat smoking contest by the owner and a friend for which we will all be the judges.

·        If enough interest, constructing of a new plot where members can put in a couple of their own plants for next year’s harvest.  Note: This would require some time commitment in the Spring/Summer for maintenance, and space may be limited.

The cost will depend on the number of people, but should be very minimal(probably $25 or so), and would go to the cost of equipment, ingredients and food.  The location for those unfamiliar is about a 3-hour drive straight south on I-57.  We can certainly arrange some car-pooling and we can also arrange to pick people up at the Amtrak station in Mattoon(my hometown) which is only a few miles away and is a cheap option for you pedalers who can't fit in somebody's car. 

If you think you would be interested, please reply to this post and we will provide more details as we get closer.

Thanks,

Rich