Image: Local hop farmer Mr Tice inspects hop bines, recreated by Hogs Back Brewery owner Rupert Thompson (right) and estate manager Matthew King
Historic images recreated for Farnham brewery milestone as it looks ahead to Hop Harvest celebrations in September
As Surrey-based Hogs Back Brewery approaches its 10th hop harvest, it has recreated historic hop farming photographs lining the walls of its Tap room, with local residents helping to update the images during a Hop Garden Open Evening.
Two original images were recreated, one showing a group of hop pickers reading the local newspaper, while in the other, Matthew King, Hogs Back’s estate manager, is shown with brewery owner Rupert Thompson inspecting the ripening hop plants, replace Mr Tice, a member of a renowned local hop growing family, in the original photograph.
The Hop Garden Open Evening drew 120 guests, who enjoyed a tour of the hop garden next to the brewery, followed by a pint or two in the Brewery Tap. Guests made a £5 donation to British Heart Foundation, Hogs Back’s chosen charity this year.
Image: Museum of Farnham
Rupert said: “We’re immensely proud to mark 10 years of hop growing. We planted our first hop garden, across the road from the brewery, to help us become a more sustainable brewery, to bring hop farming back to the Farnham region, and to build ties with the local community.
“A decade on, we have relocated to a larger hop garden even closer to the brewery, meaning the hops travel ‘from field to firkin in a furlong’ as we say! We capture them at optimum freshness and create a carbon footprint that’s close to zero! We are producing around 60% of our hop requirement and growing three varieties; Fuggles, English Cascade and Farnham White Bine.”
He added: “Hop growing is not for the faint hearted! Hops are a delicate, high-maintenance crop, much impacted by climate; this year’s heavy rain has delayed growth and therefore our harvest.
“However, it has been enormously rewarding, not least because of the support from the local community, in particular our loyal band of volunteers. Not only do they help us tend our hops during the growing season and bring in the harvest in September, but some of them are now immortalised in our recreations of classic hop farming photographs.”
This year’s hop harvest will culminate in the traditional Hop Harvest celebrations, from 13th-15th September. This year, Hogs Back is expecting more than 3,500 people to join the festivities, which include:
Roots Festival, Friday 13th from 6pm: featuring original music, headlined by Newton Faulkner.
Hop Harvest Festival, Saturday 14th, 2pm-11pm: Beer, street food and music, this year including indie folk to electropop and headlined by Britpop tribute band Blurasis.
TEA party, Sunday 15th, midday-5pm: family-friendly day with children’s entertainment including dray rides around the Hop Garden, face painting, magic show, and music including a Taylor Swift tribute act.
For full line ups of musicians and other entertainment, https://hogsback.co.uk/pages/festival-beer-and-music-party
Hop growing and Farnham are inextricably linked. At its peak in the late 19th century, hop fields covered around 40% of all available farmland in the area, and hops from Farnham were highly-prized for their quality. Although hop cultivation dwindled over the next 100 years, it still takes place in pockets across the region.
Hogs Back planted its first hop garden in 2014, relocating in 2019 to the current 8.5-acre site next to the brewery. The current garden contains 6,000 hop plants supported by 100 large posts and 10 miles of high tensile steel wire, strung 18ft above the plants. A small number of bines are crafted into hop garlands for local weddings and parties, and petals from the hop flowers are also being sold this year as aromatic, 100% biodegradable confetti.
