BEER ISSUE Anneliese Schmidt
NORTH NOR TH B BAY A Y BOH EMIA E MI AN AN | S SEP EP T E M BE R 18 1 8 –2 – 24, 4, 20 013 1 3 | BO H E M I AN AN.COM .C O M
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“cones”) of “cones”) o the the vinelike vinelike per perennial ennial Humulus lupulus. Essentially, we’re witnessing E ssentiially, w e’re witn essing onee of the on the earliest earliest stages stages of beer making, onee th that, from m aking, and a d on an at, fr om a wider angle, angle g , has has been part part of this this rregion’s egion’s agronomic agronomic makeup makeup ffor or around ar ound 150 1550 years. years. And thee An d yet yet today, today, despite despite th unchecked and un checked e craft-beer craft-beer aft beer boom boom, an d despite the increased ubiquity des pite th he in creased u biquity of farm-to-table thiss an and locavorefarmto-table thi d loc avoreminded thee fa fact min ded that—even th hat—even despite despite th ct that th at ccertain ertaain ffolks olks (right here) here) will occasionally stand outside Russian oc casionally stan do utside of Russi an River Ri ver Brewing Brewin w g Co. Co. for for hours hours aawaiting waiting what’s ultimately mouthful w hat’s ult timately a m outhful of hops—the h ops—the actual actual epicenter epicenter of American hop production has Am erican nh op pr oduction h as long lon g since since shifted shifted elsewhere. elsewhere. To To understand un d stan der nd why, why, exactly, exactly, rrequires equir i es first going fir st goin g back back to to a time time when when hops grapes h ops outpaced outp paced eeven ven gr apes aass a dominant domin antt crop crop in Sonoma Sonoma County. County.
Crop Cr op pR Rotation otation
Getting Hopped Up—Again The cr craft raft beer boo boom m brings a quiet b but triumphantt return return ttoo hop p gr growing owing in Sonoma Son noma County Countty BBYY KEN WEA WEAVER VER It is conceded conceded e that Sonoma Sonoma County County pr produces odu uces the finest quality of of hops hops grown g own on the Pacific gr Pacific Coast. Coast. While Wh While the yield yield is not not sso o hea heavy avy as in ssome ome o other ther ssections ections o off the S State, tate, ther theree is mor moree lupu lupulin lin and a str stronger onger ar aroma oma in th the he S Sonoma onoma County C ounty pr product, od duct, which brings fr from om one cent cent to tw two o cen cents ts per po pound und mor more re money in the mar market. ket. —Sunset — Sunset Magazine Ma agazine Homeseekers’ Homeseekers’ B Bureau, ureau,, 1915 1915
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y the the time time we we arri arrive, ve, th thee pick p pickers ers have have been at work work k ffor o hours. or hours. A worn, worn, cconstruction-yellow onstru uction-yellow backhoe backhoe lo oader silently silently block one of the the two two dri veways loader blockss one driveways le eading into Carneros Carneros Brewing Brewing Co. Co. in S onoma, its leading Sonoma, sscoop coop rreaching eachin c g up 10 ffeet eet into a ccurtain u urtain green. Turning Turning of green. into the the second sec e ond of th ewery’s inlets, in nlets, we we sspot pot thr ee of th thee br brewery’s three thee pick ers (family (faamily an d frien ds of the the company company owners) owners) w alkin ng pickers and friends walking amid aisles aislees of 20-foot-high 20-foot-high trellises, trellisess, slowly slowly fillin g th eir filling their b uckets. buckets.
Hops H ops are are on onee of the th he ffour our ccore ore ingredients in m ingredients modern odeern beer production, pr p oduction,, in addition addition to to malted malted barley, b arley, yeast yeast and and water. water. For For the the uninitiated, uniniti ated, they they resemble ressemble small small upside-down upside-do wn artich artichokes, o es, or ok ssoft oft gr green een pin pinee ccones. ones. e T To o beer ccognoscenti, ognoscenti, they’re they’re essentially essentially ssquishy quishy b buds uds of awesome. awesome. All told, told, they’re th ey’re ultimately ultimately the th he flowers flowers ((or or
We’ve W ee’ve come come to to Carneros Carneros Brewing Co., Co., in particular particular Brewing because bec ause thi tthiss is is about about as as close close thee h hop-growing heritage tto o th op p-growing h eritage Sonoma of S onom ma County County as as one one can can the craft-beer industry get. As As th he cr aft-beer in dustry ccontinues ontinuess to to grow, grow, an increasingly increasingly llarge arge percentage percentage of North North Bay Bay breweries their br eweriess are are cultivating cultivating th eir own small o wn sm all l ssub-acreage ub-acreage of hops, hops, but aree typically b ut these these ar typically used used immediately—in single batch imm ediattely—in a sin gle b atch or two beer—upon harvest. tw o of bee er—upon h arvest. Freshly picked hops, their F reshly pick ed h ops, with th eir high water water e content, content, tend tend to to go within ssouth outh wit thin 24 hours hours if they they aren’t ar en’t dried dried or tossed tossed into into a brew brew kettle, only miniscule k ettle, and and overall overall on ly mini scule amounts fresh. thee am ounts are are used used fr esh. (In th ccase ase of Carneros, Carn a eros, theirs theirs will and pelletized aactually ctually be b dried an d pelleti zed throughout thee year.) ffor or use use th hroughout th year.) Oregon and While Washington, Washington, Or egon an d produce thee v vast majority IIdaho daho pr o oduc e th ast m ajorit j y of commercial commer e cial hops hops grown grown in thee United th United e States States ttoday oday ((again, again, most aree dried), m ost off which which h h ar d d) Sonoma Sonoma County C ounty was was a significant significant hophopproducing pr oducing region region as as recently recently as as back. Vestiges our 60 years years b ack. V estiges of o ur area’s ar ea’s eearlier arrlier hop hop industry industry can can be ffound ound in the the aabandoned bandoned kilns kilns sseen een alongside alon ngside the the backroads backroads of Sonoma Sonom ma County, County, the the Walters Walters