Hops crops in Alberta are quickly picking up speed, and brewers in the area couldn’t be happier.
“The markets are definitely getting more prominent for Alberta hops,” said Jenelle Bjarnason, who, along with her husband Shane, owns Hop To It. “It’s still a new industry, so there’s still some hesitation for growers and brewers. But our hops are showing to be just as reliable as Yakima Valley (in Washington state) and just as high in quality.
“So we’re just getting the word out there that Alberta is growing hops, and they’re very, very good-quality hops.”
This 25-acre farm near Lacombe began in 2018 after looking and in 2019, they planted a half-acre on trellises made from 18-foot-tall telephone poles, adding another half-acre the following year.
“It doesn’t sound like much, but when they grow up to 18 feet every year, it’s more about volume than square footage,” said Bjarnason, a director with the Alberta Hop Producers’ Association.
“Every year, we cut them down, and every fall, they’re back up to the top again. They can grow a foot a day in the summer getting their way to the top. It’s a really interesting plant.”
“Before we got into it, we knew they were definitely a long-term investment,” said Bjarnason, who is also an agronomist. “Hops aren’t a weekend crop. They’re a very needy crop, and you’re not going to get a return on them for seven to 10 years.
“They’re not an easy plant to grow by any means. They’re a ton of work — the very definition of a labour of love.”
“We’re still learning what our plants can produce, but ultimately, we should be looking at 15,000 to 18,000 pounds a year,” she said.
“It’s really cool to see — almost every little town has a brewery presence. It’s really great to be able to give them a more local option for their hops.”
“It’s a lot more fun to use what we have in our backyard,” he said. “It’s easy to go to a big hop producer in Yakima Valley — and we do, do a lot of that, don’t get me wrong — but it’s fun to challenge ourselves with the varieties that are growing in our climate.”
“We almost made them prove to us that they were going to be able to grow good hops when they first started,” said Willerton, who participated in last month’s harvest at Hop To It.
“They were excited and hopeful, but the crops weren’t there yet. Now they are, and the difference in the hops that we harvested this year compared to last year is huge.”
“Fresh hop beer is definitely a very seasonal thing — we pick the hops, we sort the hops, and the hops go into the beer usually that day,” said Bjarnason. “If you don’t get it in the beer, you’ve got to dry your hops right away, or they will go rotten. It’s a very time-sensitive procedure.”
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Blair