The First Hop Harvest Party Sept. 12, 2009

Well, Saturday was truly a time to celebrate here at the Hop'n Blueberry Farm. Around 60 people showed up for a pig-pickin, covered dish, and wet hopped beer tasting party. All went as well as can be expected, considering that I spent the better part of the week doing a general all out war on sprucing up the place.


I had some good folks helping me out. Steve drove all the way from Wilmington to bring in a 100 pound hog and cooked it on Vaughn's cooker for 9 hours. There was only one pint of meat left after the pickin had been done on it. There had to have been at least 40 different covered dishes of all kinds to supplement the smoked meat.


Jody had been working diligently on brewing up the "Burnette Brew" down Charlotte way. I had picked some Cascade hops, which incidentally came in at 8.4% alpha acid content, on a Saturday morning while Jody was preparing the brew down east. His girlfriend, Wendy, met me in Morganton, the half way point, after I had collected my hops and called to let them know I was leaving. The hops were added to the boil in about 4 hours. Talk about fresh!

Jody, Joe, Steve, and Wendy sample the brew

I gave a couple of tours of the hops yard while the appetites were mounting as the weather held out for a spectacular late summer day.

The beer was very fine indeed. Everyone was as impressed with it as they were with the pig. Most said it was some of the best beer they had ever had, and was perfect for washing down the delicious pork. If you are interested in more about how to brew with wet hops, contact me at hopnblue@yahoo.com and I can get you in touch with Jody.