TOPIC:

Just looked at your website, what a great set up. Can't wait to taste the IPA <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

Neils, It was Per Kolster of course !!! I spent my honeymoon in his house by the sea and helped with a big harvest festival there. My new wife was horified to be bunching carrots 2 days after the wedding... For those who dont know, Per is a organic farmer, but also a brewer. He produces beer from scratch. Grows the barley, malts it, grows hops, brews, bottles and sells beer from the farm....awesome. I was fully inspired and have been working on doing the same since.

I have a background in biotechnology, which is handy. I made a small brewery out of converted kegs, and can brew 40l a go. The barley comes from the family farm, its actually feed barley, but malting it hasnt been too hard. Drying is a bit more tricky/costly, but the results are great. I have my own hops now, but they are also tricky and seem very vunerable to disease (especially in this weather). I hope to have a good few kilos this year.

I have a converted buiding on the farm and am about to go ahead with a 600l brewery. I'm going to bottle condition everything and mature all my beers for at least 2 months before selling them.

Dr.Derby is the hop breeder in the UK who licenced my trial of dwarf hops. I think this new dwarf cascade is totally new. Its not available to anyone until next year I think. I love cascade hops !!!

Best of luck with the brewery Rupert! Sounds really interesting. The idea of an IPA with Irish grown hops and malt being available is very cool.

I hope the brewery goes well Rupert. The website is great. Any update on how the hops are doing?

That sounds fantastic Rupert. The very best of luck with the venture. I'm sure you can tell you've got a queue of interested customers waiting here already! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

good luck Rupert with the farm. i know you want to keep the farm organic but, there is no nutritional benefit to doing so according to some recent study done into organic foods. if the hops are prone to disease then treat them with the appropriate agents. you can still grow the rest of the farms produce organically and get the organic badge for them without sacrificing the hops. you can still make fantastic beer without an organic label.

well thats just my belief anyway, I'm aware that using fertilisers and pesticides is what stops it from been called organic but that shouldn't interfere with the rest of the farm. the whole organic fad is lost on me as i don't see the benefits.


anyway hope the IPA rocks and wish you the best of luck, hope to try it some day, living not to far from you actually.