Although the number of craft breweries in the state has exploded to about 50 in recent years, only a handful of breweries and farms are growing hops. Most are relying on Northwestern U.S. hops for local craft beer production.
“Connecticut has the potential to be the hub of what could become a very good cash crop,” said Victor Triolo, a retired professor and hops enthusiast who with the help of a state Department of Agriculture grant is running a hops-growing research project at the CT Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) stations in Hamden and Windsor.
Triolo says that since the essential hop oils and resins that impart flavors of citrus and pine to beer deteriorate very quickly, being able to use locally-grown hops would make for a fresher and tastier brew. “For the most part, we’re not really making Connecticut beer – we’re making Oregon and Washington beer,” Triolo said. “But I think we have the conditions here to grow quality hops that can produce beer that is as good as any on the market.”
Triolo recently lead a meeting of brewers, hop growers and agricultural officials at the Windsor station. He hopes it will lead to the formation of a Connecticut Hop Growers Alliance working with the recently-formed Connecticut Craft Brewers Guild, the Connecticut Beer Trail and state officials to expand the farming of hops in state and promote the craft-brewing industry’s growth in a variety of ways.
“This crop presents many opportunities for Connecticut farmers and brewers,” Agriculture Commissioner Steven K. Reviczky said. “The Department of Agriculture is committed to working with stakeholders and researchers at the CAES to grow this sector of Connecticut Agriculture.”
Hops is a perennial that actually grows wild in Connecticut, and in the 1800s were farmed here in significant amounts. It is widely believed that Prohibition led to hops being mostly replaced by tobacco as a cash crop. Triolo estimates that there are now perhaps a dozen hop growers in the state, most with only a few acres or less, as well as a host of backyard growers who raise them for brewing beer at home.
