Kent Hop Update

The bines have reached the top of the strings, 14 feet above the ground, (they'll continue to try to climb upwards for a few weeks yet, inevitably flopping over and growing back down a few feet). The ground is parched and we could do with a little rain to help nutrient uptake during this intensive growing phase (it's on the cards for next week). But this soil is clean, the ground managing to avoid the infections that decimated many Kent gardens in the 30's; verticillium wilt is unheard of round here and will remain so as long as visitors are few and respect the rules (never wear anything you've worn in another hop garden). Aspect is important and these East Kent Goldings are in hopheaven here - south-south-east facing in the south east of England; plenty of ripening sun and relatively long days. The cool on-shore winds have low humidity, keeping disease at bay, but on occasion can carry clouds of spider mite or aphid with them from lord knows where (the poor French often get the blame). It can be strong too, this wind, and that has a tendency to bash the flowers against each other, causing a little unsightly bruising. But all-in-all the terroir is, as ever, mixed: many good points, a few bad. We'll take it though, it's local and it's ours.

Flowers generally start to appear in the third week of July round here and in the first week of August lupulin production begins. Synthesis is almost complete by September but it's the final few days that really count - we need late summer sun shine and warmth to fully ripen the cones and keep 'em fit until harvest. There will be flowers next time I visit, and I'll show you them. And come September, on or about the 12th, we'll pop down early, bag ourselves 20 kilos straight off the picker and rush home to brew 'GADDS' Green Hop Ale'. I love the summer in East Kent.

We brew a lot of beer with the hops grown on this land and they lend a gently astringent bitterness and a humble but cultured floral, citrus aroma. It's unique to us and, for better or for worse, good times or bad, we're wedded to them.

It's nearly the weekend

Well it's the very height of summer down here at the seaside and only a cool onshore breeze is keeping profound madness at bay. I can't possibly imagine how the inlanders manage in this oppressive heat (perhaps they don't and they are loon) but I'm going to find out this weekend: I'll be leading (astray) a crack contingent of GADDS on a mission tens of miles into mainland England, to provide technical support to Vince Power and his Hop Farm Festival. We're sending several tonnes of cool Kentish ale to service the three beer tents and it is wholly necessary for me, and my friends and family, to be on hand to dispense advice to the bar staff. In order to be in a position to carry out our duties effectively we clearly need the right equipment, such as a crew bus, back stage camping and access all areas passes.

Should madness strike any one of us the emergency drill is only too well practiced: cease working, sit (or lie) down, get something cool to drink and try to focus on some music.

Blag? Yup.

UPDATE

I've got some 10 litre polypins of Festiv'Ale on special offer at £20 each (while stocks last). So if you didn't get a ticket, get a polypin, don't wash for three days and listen to the radio from your neighbours garden for that authentic stay-at-home festival experience.

BBC display inability to read

As a lifelong fan of the beeb I'm a tad disappointed by this reply I received to the complaint I made recently:

Dear Mr Gadd

Reference 117656

Thanks for your e-mail regarding the 'BBC News at Six' on BBC One.

I understand you felt it was inapprorpiate (sic) to use footage of beer being served in a pub during an item on a minimum price for alcohol on 2 June.

While we appreciate your views, a minimum price will cause an effect on the cost of alcohol in all environments, be it a pub or a supermarket. Other news reports have used images of supermarket shelves, or individuals enjoying themselves on the street. An example of a different image can be seen at the BBC Online link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10207827.stm

We don't believe the report's images was misrepresenting the findings but please be assured that your complaint will be added to our audience log, a daily report of audience feedback that's circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

Andrew Hannah

Dear Andrew,

I thought I pointed out that the suggested minimum price would affect a very tiny proportion of real beer served in pubs which is a very tiny proportion of alcohol sales across......oh never mind. I did. Read the bastard letter will you?

Warmest Regards

Eddie

Festiv'Ale

In a couple of weeks' time Van, Bob, Debbie and many of their friends are having a bit of a knees up down at the hop farm and they've asked for a cask or two of the good (and local) stuff to help things go with a swing. We'll be taking some Seasider and GADDS' Number 5 Best Bitter but the main offering will be Festiv'Ale, our pale, hoppy, fruity thirst slaker brewed to be enjoyed while dancing on grass in the sunshine. Or moonshine.

Obviously technical support is all part of the deal and, in a rare show of leadership, I've decided to do it myself - well it *is* on a weekend. I'm taking the Coyote and his camper van; he's very excited because blue-grass style Mumford & Sons will be there.

Recipe Formulation Day

Next week we're brewing Festiv'Ale, a pale, fruity little 3.8er for those on a session at this year's Hop Farm Festival up in Paddock Wood. We've brewed it before; we find an excuse to slip it in most years but we don't necessarily use the same recipe every year. Proper beer drinkers think it sacrilegious alter a beer's formulation but the truth is it happens a great deal more than they suspect, to a great many more beers. I can't speak for others but there are a few reasons we change and alter things: a change of raw materials available necessitating a tweak, a change in drinker preference (or a change in drinker), to improve the flavour of a beer or simply to try something a little different. No one has drunk Festiv'Ale since sitting in a field last year and I doubt even those that took notes can recall the exact nuances involved so I feel free, to a certain extent, to revisit the brewsheets, check the malt store, check the hop store and work out a recipe. I call it 'freshening up'.



So, the malt was simply pale Marris Otter and some Caragold (body and mouthfeel) at 11%, the hops were Canterbury grown Cascades for a middling bitterness and juicy flavour with a twist of fruity Nelson Sauvin hops at the end. All fermented with a soft ale yeast to a sweeter-than-usual finish, (which will have balanced that gentle bitterness).

I don't think much needs changing there then. Up the hops, as always, but nothing else.

Well, that was an easier day than I thought it would be - as the Coyote says "some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you" (these Canadians are an odd lot).

Points of View

BBC website complaints form

Sir/Madam,

Why oh why oh why do the beeb continue to use footage of traditional beer being served in the pleasant and convivial surroundings of a pub to illustrate the problems of binge drinking (BBC News at Six, 2^nd June)?

The story in question related to the NICE recommendation that a minimum price be fixed on alcohol – that price has been recommended at 50 pence per unit. Beer served in pubs costs more than twice as much as that at its cheapest. And traditional beer accounts for just 7% of the total UK beer market and less than 2% of the alcoholic drinks market. Furthermore, the pub is a regulated environment. What place does traditional beer, served in a pub, have in a story about the minimum price of alcohol? It’s akin to using footage of a sub-post mistress on a story about the global banking crisis.

If good old Auntie continues to misrepresent our fine brewing and pub industry in this way I’ll be forced to withhold my licence fee (and watch on-line instead).

Regards

Eddie Gadd

PS Apart from that it was a very decent, well balanced piece.