Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Daryl and I met with Scott and Sarah Hermanson of N7 Farms out of Manchester at this month's meeting of the MADCO Brewers. They are a small hop production outfit two years in the business. Currently a one acre farm with 25 more acres to plant. Not quite at the level of production to be selling hops but will be catering to the homebrewer crowd when they do. Currently with four varieties-
Nugget
Magnum
Hallertau
Fuggles
They had free samples of their second season cuttings, mainly nugget and magnum(fuggles and hallertau were a little short on harvest). They are eagar to possibly join one of our festivals to get the word out of their operation and more so, wanting said homebrewers to showcase their hops in one of our beers to show off the flavor profiles.

In discussions we hope to have them at our monthly meeting this July. It sounded like they need to clear freezer space for this coming year- which means a lot of free hops mostly pellitized 4 and 8oz bags. They are very receptive to what the homebrew crowd wants and what we would like to see from a hop producer.

Attachments are the lab results of alpha and beta acids from their varieties this past season.

Seems like a really cool opportunity for a SMaSH pale ale or single hop pale bitter. Wish I wasn't moving and I'd totally be down.

- Josh Peanasky

Are they looking for input as to what to grow on the rest of their farm? Not sure what varieties grow in our zone, but it would be great if they could do some of the fruitier varieties. Can't wait to meet them at the July meeting and chat.

tony b wrote:Are they looking for input as to what to grow on the rest of their farm? Not sure what varieties grow in our zone, but it would be great if they could do some of the fruitier varieties. Can't wait to meet them at the July meeting and chat.

Not sure on that, but my perception was that they didn't want to copy what other local growers are already doing. Which might give them an edge if other local people are doing more ipa focused hops, and they stick with more Noble and Old World hop varieties.

tony b wrote:Are they looking for input as to what to grow on the rest of their farm? Not sure what varieties grow in our zone, but it would be great if they could do some of the fruitier varieties. Can't wait to meet them at the July meeting and chat.

I think they are trying to access their local market potential. At this point they are growing Fuggles, Hallertau, Magnum, and Nugget....all of those pretty useful, at least for my brewing interests. I am sure they would welcome feedback on varieties.

They would also like to know what form (flowers, pellets, etc.) and quantities would you typically buy (1 oz, 2 oz, 1/2 lb, 1 lbs, etc.).

That could work. The margins are much higher as well as is demand for IPA type hops. At my current job, we recently funded a loan on the largest hop grower in Idaho. Has been operating since the 1940's. They rotated to more of the sexy hops on their 1,200 plus acres with the largest amount dedicated to Citra. They still do some noble too but much less because they are simply less profitable per acre.