It has remained seriously dry in Kent throughout July and whilst yields might be expected to be low as a consequence, pests and disease have been thin on the ground too, suggesting decent quality. Humphrey the hop grower is even more bullish about quality than last year, when he was even more bullish than the year before, when he was even more bullish than the year before that - in fact, he can't possibly get any more bullish next year or he'll be attracting unwanted attentions from his herds. "An inch [rain] would do it" he tells me, bullishly. We're in negotiations over the 40kg of freshly picked, undried East Kent Goldings I want to collect from him during harvest, in early September. They're to go in a fresh 'green' hop ale of, as yet, undecided recipe. Naturally it isn't him that brings up the weight subject, you see, undried hops weigh eight times more than dried."I'm not after buying water" I say.
"Why not?" says Humphrey "what you sell is mainly water, isn't it?"
Touché.
That isn't Humphrey's hand in the picture, his are gnarled and knotted like farmer's.
4 comments:
Shouldn't they cost the same as 40Kg dried hops ... minus the cost of drying?
Wouldn't it be cheaper to sell wet hops than dried. No processing or storage etc. Or am I missing something? :P
Chunk.
if he's selling alpha acid then the price would be an approximately one 1/8 th of the cost of 40 dry kgs. Minus the drying costs of course, as you say.
He'll let me have them for a case of beer I reckon.
Hey Eddie,
Re the inch of rain that Humphrey needs - have you seen http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/se/se_forecast_warnings.html?day=1 which is a weather warning saying we could get 20mm (almost an inch) later today!
Thanks anon, it has been pissing down. Happy hops.
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