A new microbrewery group, the Hackney Hop Growers, is encouraging residents to plant hops in their gardens as part of an effort to encourage more “edible landscaping” in the borough.
Locals who give up their gardens to grow hops will receive at least one pint of bubbly delight this summer and, depending on the yield, potentially much more for the start of the football season.
More than 1,000 pints of beer were produced in Brixton last year, off a similar scheme run by the Brixton Beer Company. The scheme involved 14 residents who gave up their back gardens, allotments and balconies to grow 40 hop plants.
Isabel Hankart, Hackney Hop Growers group coordinator, said: “The idea is to create a community of people interested in growing hops in a variety of urban locations, from balconies to community spaces, to make beer with a+ local brewer and enjoy truly local ale together.”
A number of sites in Hackney have signed up to grow hops over the first year of the scheme, including plots at Haggerston Orchards and Rhodes Estate gardens.
Organic booze has captured the capital since the start of the recession. Sarah Vaughan-Roberts, from Hackney, has created the first organic vineyard in London for more than 500 years. This autumn, the volunteers hope for a bumper crop of chardonnay, ortega, pinot meunier and pinot noir grapes at the Forty Hall Community Vineyard in Enfield.Matt Clack, one of the first residents to sign up to Hackney Hop Grow, said: “I have a little garden. I’ve grown tomatoes before, but nothing serious.
“I love the sense of shared accomplishment from gardening and using small bits of space to achieve something quite remarkable. I think Hackney now has 60 plants allocated, so we should be keeping the local hostelries stocked for a week or so!”
Ms Hankart, an architect by trade, said: “I want to encourage edible landscaping and food growing in urban spaces. It is a great and cheap way for people to get actively involved and interact with their environment.”
Hackney Hop Growers have sold more than 60 hop plants and expect that their yield will be in excess of the 1,000 pints brewed by Brixton in 2012.
The group’s planting day is planned for 17 March, with the hop harvest expected to be in August.
If you want to see their progress you can follow them on Twitter @HackneyHopGrow.
[…] Via: The Hackney Post […]
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