In winter less people think about buying hops, but it is actually a really good time to establish them. Of course bad weather can be an issue for new plants, but with the right touch you can easily get your hop ready for the spring and summer. First thing you need to do is understand how your plant will look at this time. Hops are herbaceous perennial, meaning they will shed their leaves and the stems will die back in autumn and winter. The plants may also start looking a bit sad before this, including decolourisation, shrivelling and becoming droopier. The plant is still healthy, this is just the natural process it will go through every year. If you have already planted your hop in the spr
With summer in full swing we see alcohol consumption go up, but despite the gallons of beer people drink many will have never even seen a hop. Knowledge of what actually goes into our beer has spread over the past couple of years, but how and what exactly these ingredients come from is still not common knowledge. Hop plants are bines which grow up structures by wrapping themselves around them. At one time just considered another weed, they eventually showed to have useful properties in cooking and eventually brewing. Hop plants come from the genus Humulus, with the variety commonly used for brewing being Humulus Lupulus. They prefer a temperate climate which is partly why they flourished in
