John's World...Jeeva Hop Garden

The day has finally come.  I had been thinking about this for almost a year.  Of course it's beer related.  HOPS...

Hops grown here in India.  Our friend Arjun had suggested spending his time at his family's foundation Jeevarathni.  Jeevarathni  is an organization working to improve the lives of economically and emotionally deprived children, specially abled children and the aged living in poverty and injustice.  We brainstormed some ideas to help the foundation and came up with a hop garden.

For those of you who don't know or have not gone through the Sam Adams Brewery Tour a few hundred times, hops are essentially what gives beer its flavor.  There are close to one hundred hop varieties now in existence.  Combine those hops at different stages in the brewing process and you will have a unique beer unto-itself.  

For various reasons, India has never really had a significant amount of hop production.  The weather is either too rainy or too hot for most varieties.  However, one thing I found is that Bangalore offers a unique micro-climate compared to the rest of the country.  Everything is kind of in the middle.  Never too hot nor too cold, never too rainy nor too dry.

To play it safe, I wanted a hop variety that was disease resistant, heat tolerant, and would make great beer.  Centennials was the answer.  For IPA lovers out there, Centennials are the hops that tend to lend citrus or tangerine flavors to ales.  They can sometimes run high in demand, so shortages do happen.  If we can get these hops growing, there is a great supply that exists for a lucky local brewer or two.

Compared to most other places in India, Jeevarathni has wonderful, well cared for soil.  I was happy to see our hop roots get placed in the ground by Raj the worker for the foundation.  Raj himself looked happy putting them in the ground too.  Especially when he found out there purpose (he likes "the beer").

Building and maintaining a hop yard requires all of your basic farming skills.  Planting, building, cultivating, harvesting, and market preparation are all part of hop farming.  Some of the kids at Jeevaratni should certainly benefit from helping out.  The money generated from a successful hop yard could be a real boon.

Who knows, maybe even a Jeevarathni brewery could be in the works.  A real "farm to glass" production in the future.  Makes me thirsty thinking about it.  

 Special thanks to Raul for making today possible with some incredible logistical work.  Also, thanks to June for bringing the hop roots in her luggage (probably illegally) when she came to visit us.