Fulton Brewing Decides To Grow Their Own Hops

The fairly young Fulton Brewing decides to grow their own hops on family land near St. Cloud MN. Here’s their latest update that goes into great detail as to when why and how they will do this. Cheers

(Minneapolis, MN) Minnesota natives are probably familiar with the saying “Knee high by the fourth of July,” an old adage commonly used to describe the progress of growing corn. This year, we’re learning that the same is true for hops plants as well.

We’ve been looking into growing hops for several years, and this year, we decided to give it a try on a family member’s land near St. Cloud.

Despite the cold and wet spring, we’ve made great progress in the fields.  Late in March, we cleared an acre of forest blowdown and erected over 75 tamarack poles, each measuring 20 feet high. Our Cascade hop rhizomes arrived in early May, and before long we had over 1,000 plants in the ground.  By the end of the summer, we’ll be building a water tower to supply fresh, clean central Minnesota spring water to the hop farm.

Why did we choose Cascade hops? Cascades are hardy and prolific growers in Minnesota’s often challenging growing environment, and it’s also the primary hop we use in The Ringer Pale Ale.  While we’re a long way from declaring hop growing independence, we hope our hop farm’s yield can be used extensively in our beers. From the looks on Brian and Jim’s faces, they’re ready for one of those beers any moment now.
We’ll keep you updated as our hops continue to grow.  If you’re interested in learning more about growing hops or lending a hand on the farm, please send an email to [email protected].