TOPIC:

I was downloading hundreds of photos my Wife took while she was in Germany without me and came across a bunch of photos of hops she took while on a short trip to Bavaria with her parent. I have to say, I was very impressed that she did this at all, becase although she's German, she's not a beer drinker, but I was very happy she thought of me in this way <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Anyway, I thought I'd share them as they're pretty nice pics. I am assuming this is classic Hallertau country as it's more or less slap bang in the middle of Bavaria. We were trying to figure out precisely where this field was using Google Earth (we did find the exact field, see coords below) and we were spotting fields of hops all over the place. Hardly surprising since it's one of the biggest hop producing areas in the world I suppose.

You can see a slideshow here[/url:1algys0x], but here's a few thumbnails you can click on too.
[img:1algys0x]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/IrishCraftBrewer/Hops%20in%20Germany%201/th_DSC03841.jpg[/img:1algys0x][/url:1algys0x]
[img:1algys0x]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/IrishCraftBrewer/Hops%20in%20Germany%201/th_DSC03844.jpg[/img:1algys0x][/url:1algys0x]
[img:1algys0x]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/IrishCraftBrewer/Hops%20in%20Germany%201/th_DSC03848.jpg[/img:1algys0x][/url:1algys0x]

49° 8'45.30"N
10°57'8.49"E

I can only imagine what this must have smelled like:
[img:25m6473a]http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff91/IrishCraftBrewer/Hops%20in%20Germany%201/th_DSC03845.jpg[/img:25m6473a]

No fences, I notice. Hop scrumping, anyone?

Nice..... <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) --> Those plants are things of beauty <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->

very nice pics <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Excellent pics - pardon my ignorance, but are there hop fields in Ireland? Do you guys grow any at home?
I've got Pride of Ringwood, Chinook and Goldings plants at home - in fact the Goldings has sprung to life with several purple runners breaking through in the last few days. The PoR and Chinook are still dormant at the moment.
At A$10 for 100g of pellets, the A$25 rhizome is a solid investment as the years roll by!
Cheers,
TL

There hasn't been commercial hop growing here for many years, but some of the members here do grow their own. DaveT actually has a rhizome he got from the last hop garden in Ireland! See the last section of the article on his brewery.