10 CapitalPress.com
September 4, 2015
Iowa’s newest hops farm harvesting first crop
SOLON, Iowa (AP) — Io-
wa’s newest and largest hops
farm is harvesting its first
commercial crop that’s already
supplying local craft brewers
around the region.
The Buck Creek Hops
farm, which is near Iowa City,
planted an estimated 25,000
plants on 25 acres this spring,
the Iowa City Press-Citizen
reported.
Buck Creek owner Mark
Pattison expects to harvest
about 1,000 pounds of hops
this year, but that’s just a frac-
tion of what he and his part-
ners hope to grow in the com-
ing seasons. They have planted
seven varieties, with four cur-
rently available: Cascade, Chi-
nook, Columbus and Nugget.
“It’s our first year and a
small crop,” Pattison said.
“We’ll be more at full pro-
duction next year and the year
after. It takes a hop plant three
years to mature. The first year
is mainly just getting the roots
started, and you hope to get
some crop.”
Buck Creek has invited
brewers to hand pick their own
hops this year. Pattison said it’s
beneficial for them in creating
batches of “wet hops” beer,
using the cones straight off the
vine before they’re processed
and dried.
Big Grove Brewery typ-
ically uses hops from the Pa-
cific Northwest, where the
majority of the nation’s hops
originate, in their core portfo-
lio beers, but partner with lo-
cal growers in the fall for their
harvest beers. Big Grove said
that this year, it’s exclusively
using fresh-picked hops from
Buck Creek.
Head brewer Bill Heinrich
said the brewery hopes to part-
ner with Buck Creek to create
a year-round beer featuring
Iowa hops.
Hops prices have soared in
recent years amid a craft brew-
ing boom, prompting many
to try and cash in by growing
hops commercially, Heinrich
said. But what could set Buck
Creek apart from its competi-
tors in the long run is the up-
front investment Pattison and
his team have put in to estab-
lish a larger operation with
automated equipment, he said.
“The more I watch him do
it, and the more we start to
work with them, I think he has
a better feel for what it’s going
to take to make a successful
long-term project instead of
just a short-term windfall,”
Heinrich said. “I’m really hop-
ing he does well; I think he’s
going to be a good partner
moving forward.”
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