Why grow hops as a community project ?
Growing hops is an unusual way of introducing people to the wonders & benefits of growing your own.
Cultivating hops close to the brewer can reduce the beer miles associated with the import of additional hop ingredients.
Currently Irish brewers mostly import their hops from around the world which is currently suffering a global hop crop failure of 25% in 2015, there are a small amount of innovative brewers in Ireland growing hops but for their own supply and in very limited amounts, we hope to be able to example the need for more local hop production in Ireland.
By growing hops collectively, Social Hops aims to enable a more local hop economy with mutual benefits for both the growers & brewers. And what better a way to celebrate this green economy then with a Local Wet Hopped Beer brewed within 24 hours of
Social Hops collaboratively being harvested in the city by the participating growers.
Growing hops is an unusual way of introducing people to the wonders & benefits of growing your own.
Cultivating hops close to the brewer can reduce the beer miles associated with the import of additional hop ingredients.
Currently Irish brewers mostly import their hops from around the world which is currently suffering a global hop crop failure of 25% in 2015, there are a small amount of innovative brewers in Ireland growing hops but for their own supply and in very limited amounts, we hope to be able to example the need for more local hop production in Ireland.
By growing hops collectively, Social Hops aims to enable a more local hop economy with mutual benefits for both the growers & brewers. And what better a way to celebrate this green economy then with a Local Wet Hopped Beer brewed within 24 hours of
Social Hops collaboratively being harvested in the city by the participating growers.
We need people to plant HOPS HOPS HOPS!
You don’t need much space as it’s a vertical plant – a patch of ground next to a tall fence would be ideal. We have planned hop events throughout the year where growers and brewers can get together, compare notes and sample some beers, culminating with the harvesting event and brew celebration. Hop plants take 3 years to mature so if you keep donating cones, you’ll keep getting beer as well and an average hop plant will then produce cones for up to 23 years. If you’re a community garden there are group deals as below. The pack includes a hop rhizome from certified UK disease free stock, 3 meters of coir hop twine and a grounding peg.
Social Hops 2018 Calendar
Hello Rhizome
Thursday 15th March
WHERE: The Bernard Shaw Pub, Portobello, Dublin 2
(We will start distributing Starter Packs now on THURSDAY 15th March from 4pm to 9pm )
On Thursday we will be holding a rooftop terrace session at the Bernard Shaw Pub inviting growers to learn how best to plant their hop rhizomes with a tour/talk of BrewTonic's rooftop nano brewery cave of wonders & chat with the Rascals Brewery and Hopefully brew teams.
All Social Hop Starter Packs ordered for delivery will be posted out on Thursday 15th and should arrive to your home by Mon 19th.
All the crew at Social Hops, Rascals Brewery, Hopfully Brewery and BrewTonic are looking forward to meeting you all next week and talking hops, beer and community, See you all soon:)
Hop Shoot Eat
Saturday 9th June 2018 @ 2pm - 5pm
The Bernard Shaw Pub, Portobello, Dublin 2
Your invited to a very special rooftop terrace hop eating party at the Bernard Shaw, we are inviting all growers to bring along their unwanted hop shoots to be used in a hop tastic culinary delight complemented with sample tasting from BrewTonic's rooftop nano brewery wonders. Each hop plant can produce over half kilo of hops each year, and as an added bonus you can eat the delicious shoot trimmings in spring – they are known as poor man’s asparagus and taste incredible fried in butter!
Hop Giddy Up
Saturday September 9th 2018
The Bernard Shaw Pub, Portobello, Dublin 2
We will be holding a rooftop terrace hop harvesting session at the Bernard Shaw Pub inviting growers to bring along their own hop plants for harvesting or to drop off their harvested hops and hang out harvesting the rooftop hops with everybody else, it's gonna be a hoppy day as we weigh all our collective hops and send them straight off to Rascals Brewery & Hopfully Brewery.
Hopping @ Rascals & Hopfully Breweries, Dublin City
Date TBC September 2018
Visit Rascals Brewery and Hopfully Brewery while the crew are preparing the SOCIALHOPS#3.
Harvest Beer #3
Date TBC October
The Bernard Shaw Pub, Portobello, Dublin 2
We will be holding a hop harvest tasting session at the Bernard Shaw Pub inviting growers to sample all their hard work and collective energy in collaborating on the Social Hops Beer #3 from Rascals Brewery and Hopfully Brewing and all you growers everywhere !! Hops are a perennial plant (they grow back every year) and they reach full maturity in three years.
Who's brewing the beer ?
All harvested hops will be shared between Dublin breweries Hopfully Brewing & Rascals Brewery
Please note Hops are only part of the overall ingredients for making beer and there are other costs to the brewer, Social Hop growers will avail of free beer during the harvest festival whilst the brewer will be supplying the brew for sale to cover their production costs, so you can meet your friends & show off your hop growing credentials in the local soon !
Hops City: Want to Help a Local Brewery?
Louisa McGrathMay 10, 2016 READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON SOCIAL HOPS HERE
The idea is a simple one: rather than micro-breweries in Dublin buying their hops from wherever they can source them, sometimes as far afield as New Zealand, people across Dublin will grow hops in their back gardens, on their patios and balconies, allotments and community gardens, which are then used by local brewers. We want people to grow hops across a network of individual and community gardens.
We are mapping the hop growing locations using UEBERMAPS
Social Hop meetup events are kindly supported by Brewtonic @ The Bernard Shaw Pub
