OUR STORY

I'm a first generation hops farmer and a 5th generation corn and soybean farmer. The idea behind hops farming began with a love of beer and a knack for brewing beer in my 20's. While living in the Minneapolis area I witnessed a growth spurt of micro breweries, craft beer and the idea of "buying local." I began to wonder where brewers got their products from since the idea of "buying local" was growing equally as fast in the metro. After doing some research into beer making I discovered that while there are some very large and well-established hops farms in the Pacific Northwest, there really aren't that many in the Midwest. In 2016 an idea turned into reality when we put our first 10 plants into the dirt. In 2017 we expanded to 100 plants, then tripled in 2019 on a 1/4 acre. We hope to expand to 2 acres in the next year and can't wait to market and sell our local product to area brewers and home-brew enthusiasts. We are also excited to get more involved in the regional research efforts to show that Midwest hops have a particular flavor profile that can't be found in the Pacific Northwest, just like flavor profiles of grapes to identify where a particular wine was made. The same idea will soon be applied to beer! #hopterroir