Still with the “hangover” of last Saturday’s (16/09) hop harvest session in Giessen. This is a yearly event organized by Stichting Hop van Altena. They make a whole day event with a great program to make it interesting for volunteers to work in the harvesting of hop. This is a tradition that has been carrying from the 14th century! And what an event! My first attendance of many, that is for sure! It was fun, nice, familiar and very educational for me. I learned so much of hop. It was great to listen to other more experienced volunteers who have so much knowledge. And specially Ronald van den Ende, who represents Altena Bier and who organizes of the monthly Workumer Biergilde in Woudrichem. He is our local beer walking encyclopedia! After such a day, I realized that I need to learn more about hop if I want to understand and be an expert bier.

The event was really nicely organized. Tables and party tents ready for a long day work for the volunteers. We enjoyed a very nice vegetarian lunch provided by the organizers. All made from local products. And we were also amused with life music from a “hoptroubadour”. On site there was Laurens Groenenberg who owns the local “nanobrewery” Gebalde Vuist from Hank. He was on the spot explaining the process he follows, while preparing a blonde beer, using some of the hop we were harvesting. He also brought few types of beers from his own production. Very friendly guy. I am sure I will enjoy their beers in due time, and these will come in my reviews. At the end of the day, we were invited to do the final harvesting in the Ramses Bier brewery, in Hooge Zwaluwe, where we could also close the event enjoying some beer tasing from own production. Great brewery products and also a very nice owner.  Actually, in the past I did try like 2 different products from this brewery, and they are very nice. I easily recall the Natte Droom and the Stout Met Hout.

During the morning the different local farmers were bringing their production of hop, and we would be separating the flowers or cones from strig/base of the cone. These flowers are form by bract (leaves) and bracteole (little bracts) and underneath you can find the lupulin glands (like yellow powder), which are the resins and essential oils. This is what the brewers use in beer for the extract of flavors, bitterness and aromas. The bitterness also helps to the conservation of the beer. So, it is obviously one of the most important ingredients of beer. Doing our job required quite intense manual work, and soon after the fingers become dark green and sticky. Every movement is accompanied with a sweet and natural aroma that the cones are releasing. We harvested different varieties: Chinook, Cascade (both American origin), Perle (German origin), Whitbread Golding Variety WGV (British origin). The process of harvesting from collecting from the fields up to the time that the cones are in the brewers’ kettles should be ideally around 12 hours! This is the reason it is required to have extra hands on a set day, so the harvesting is done as quickly as possible, and the cones fulfill their purpose. The amount and quality of hop is something that varies and there are many factors that have an impact on that. From climate, seed, and also the exact time of being collected… not too early, not too late and also synchronizing with the different tempos of the different races/types of hop plants. Each brewer will use their own combination of hop mix, hop qualities and the time of cooking each of the types also varies, and that is also what influences the number of different beers we can enjoy.

All an all a very positive experience and, as mentioned, very enlighting. But, most importantly, very convivial. Next year, again!