THE PURSUIT OF HOPPINESS LOCAL DUO START BOZEMAN HOP YARD Jake TeSelle’s reason for starting a hop farm in Bozeman is pretty simple. “Because I like beer,” said the 22-year-old while standing among the remains of his first harvest on Wednesday. “Why else?” TeSelle graduated from Montana State University in May with a degree in mechanical engineering, but after testing the waters through several internships, decided the field wasn’t for him. Instead, he returned to his farm off Gooch Hill Road where his family has grown wheat and alfalfa for five generations. “I’ve had my fill,” he said of engineering. “Being outside is in my blood.” During one of his internships in San Diego, TeSelle met a friend who was growing hops in the backyard, and when he returned to Bozeman he decided he would give the crop a shot. “I thought hops might be more fun (than wheat),” he said. Early last year, with the help of childhood buddy Colt Sales, TeSelle dug up an acre of his family’s land, installed several dozen 15-foot posts connected at the top by wire, planted handfuls of 4-inch hop roots and trained the plants to climb upward using lengths of coconut twine. The 1-acre test plot, which had previously been used as a motorcycle course, was so rocky and “garbage” that many of the posts skewed at odd angles, giving TeSelle and Sales the name for their new operation: Crooked Yard Hops. “It’s a lot of work, but I love it. It’s like a big garden,” TeSelle said. A perennial vine grown around the world, hops can survive through the winter but are sensitive to heat, and around half of Crooked Yard’s original crop died out during a hot spell last summer. But the business partners still collected about 150 pounds of robin egg-sized cones during their first harvest several weeks ago. Despite a high return on investment 10
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RACHEL LEATHE
Jake TeSelle, an MSU grad and fifthgeneration farmer, stands next to the tallest hops plant growing in his 6-acre plot on Aug. 31 outside of Bozeman.
(more than $10,000 of revenue per acre compared to a couple $100 for wheat), hop farming is made difficult by the need for specialized infrastructure. Along with the twine, posts and wire, harvesting the plants requires a large machine that strips the buds from their stems, as well as equipment for drying and preserving. “The market is there, but the infrastructure is complex. The harvesting and processing is a huge barrier,” TeSelle said. “People think it’s: ‘Oh, I grow the plant and get money,’ but there’s so much in between.” To offset the startup cost, TeSelle went to Blackstone LaunchPad, MSU’s business incubator, which directed him to a Montana Department of Agriculture grant program that ended up covering most of the cost of the harvester. And at Blackstone’s urging, TeSelle and Sales decided to expand their operation. “It was going to be a hobby. I thought maybe I’d build 2 acres someday, but they gave me a kick in the pants and shot in the arm,” TeSelle said. After coming to an agreement with a neighbor, in April the two broke
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ground on 6 acres of land across the road from the test plot. Enlisting the help of friends and family, they spent three months plowing the ground in rows, installing more than 1,000 posts, stringing wire and twine and planting thousands of root cuttings from two different hop varieties — Cascade and Magnum — which TeSelle purchased from a hop farm in Oregon. “It’s spiraled out of control,” he joked. The Bozeman native has received advice from Tom Britz, the owner of one of the state’s only other hop farms, Glacier Hops Ranch in Whitefish. But most of the troubleshooting he has done online. Early in the process, TeSelle and Sales visited local beer festivals and told brewers that they were farming hops. Many expressed interest, but Bridger Brewing head brewer Daniel Pollard was the most persistent. TeSelle delivered his test batch to Pollard, which the brewer plans to use in a wet-hopped (using the plants fresh off the vine, rather than dried) version of his Vigilante IPA. According to TeSelle, the 150 pounds of hops will translate to around 310 gallons of beer, or 2,500 pints. As word of the local hop yard has spread, TeSelle said he receives calls weekly asking if he has anything for sale. But the next few years’ harvests are all accounted for by Bridger. “It’s nuts, everyone wants Montana hops,” he said. Despite the demand, TeSelle said he doesn’t plan to expand beyond the current 6 acres, a size that is manageable between himself and Sales. And while the owners were always beer lovers, the operation has given them a newfound appreciation for the brewing process. “Like anything, when you get more connected to agriculture you appreciate it more,” TeSelle said. “Drinking a beer, you understand that there’s more behind it. It just feels right.”
ON THE RECORD CON T. PATENTS
Joel R. Haynes of Bozeman. Takeda Vaccines, Inc. of Bozeman. Chimeric influenza virus-like particles. 9,439,959. Sept. 13. Michael J. Giroux of Bozeman. Montana State University of Bozeman. Production of high quality durum wheat having increased amylose content. 9,439,447. Sept. 13. Vishal Kapoor of Seattle, Wash., Jonathan Mark Keller of Redmond, Wash., Ajith Kumar of Seattle, Wash., Adrian M. Marinescu of Sammamish, Wash., Marc E. Seinfeld of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Anil Francis Thomas of Redmond, Wash., Michael Sean Jarrett of Kirkland, Wash., Joseph J. Johnson of Seattle, Wash., and Joseph L. Faulhaber of Bozeman. Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC of Redmond, Wash. Discovering malicious input file and performing automatic and distributed remediation. 9,436,826. Sept. 6. Justin Torgerson of Bozeman, Charles Lokey of Bozeman, Laine McNeil of Bozeman, Patrick Maine of Bozeman, and Mark Enright of Bozeman. Quantel USA of Bozeman. Intracavity pumped OPO system. 9,431,790. Aug. 30. David Yakos of Bozeman, and Seth Carlstrom of Bozeman. Sourcingpartner, Inc. of McKinney, Texas. Spray bottle with wiping surface. D764,309. Aug. 23. Beda B.G. Ruefer of Bozeman. Drinking water delivery system and method. 9,422,068. Aug. 23.
BANKRUPTCIES
Jeffrey Scott Alexander and Brittney Darby Alexaner. 103 Branegan Court, Apt. A, Bozeman. Chapter 7. Aug. 31. Richardson. Mark Edward Mathson and Jennifer Marie Mathson. P.O. Box 10412, Bozeman. Chapter 7. Sept. 9. Richardson. Ross Evan Johnson. P.O. Box 134, Manhattan. Chapter 7. Sept. 8. Richardson. Timothy John Warner and Amanda Dawn Peters. 105 Second St., Springdale. Chapter 7. Sept. 14. Richardson. Tody Carl McAdam. 105 S. Ninth St., Livingston. Chapter 7. Sept. 15. Richardson.