Green Hop Season in Kent is well under way! But… what exactly is Green Hop Season, and what makes it so special?
In short, it’s a very brief but exciting season that allows brewers to collect freshly harvested hops from local farms in Kent, and rush them to the breweries where they’ll get turned into aromatic, seasonal beers.
A couple of weeks ago, in mid September, Paul (head brewer from Fonthill Brewing Co. in Tunbridge Wells) went out to Hukins Farm to collect a batch of freshly harvested Kentish hops.
“A green hop beer is made with hops straight from the bine, rather than dried or pelleted versions. To qualify as a green hop beer, they must be Kent hops, and they have to be in the kettle within 12 hours of picking.”
But what exactly makes green hop beers so special?
Hukins Hops have been growing hops in the Weald of Kent for over 100 years. Glenn from Hukins Hops explains:
“Using fresh green hops straight from the hop garden gives brewers the chance to create a special, one-off beer that incorporates the hop-growing culture embedded in Kent’s history.” He continues, “Adding green hops to the boil during the brewing process allows brewers to access hop oils that are only obtainable during the harvest months — before they are dried in the oast and the more perishable oils are burnt off and lost in the process.”
In other words, you can’t get this beer at any other time of the year. It’s a fleeting, special treat!
“This year, Hukins picked Challenger hops for us,” Paul says. “The hops went from the bine to the kettle in about three hours.”
“Challenger provides a spicy, cedar, green tea aroma with sweet floral flavour notes.” Glenn says. “As a bittering hop, it provides a refreshing, full-bodied rounded bitterness, and as a late hop, it gives a very crisp and fruity character.”
But it’s not just the hop variety that affects the taste and quality of the ale. When you drink a green hop beer, you get to taste a moment in time — a culmination of a year’s work at the farm, followed by the swift, careful brewing process that preserves those special, fresh flavours.
Fancy trying a pint of this year’s limited batch of Green Hop beer? Knut Challenger, Fonthill Brewing Co’s green hopped pale is now on tap at The George brew pub in Tunbridge Wells. But don’t wait too long — once it’s gone, you’ll have to wait another year for this ultra-local treat!
