We've got two farms in the village of Sandhurst
and we have a total of 350 acres
of which 116 is hops
64 acres is grapes which we are expanding
the rest is woodland and rented out arable
English hops give life to a classic British drink
Ale
The are essential in giving beer its bitter tangy flavour
and Chris Nicholas has made growing the finest his life's work
This year the crop is big
We harvest from the 27th of August until we're done
as soon as we finish the hops we go straight in to the grapes
It's a bit of a long 8 week harvest
There are 50 farmers growing British hops today
Hoads Farm provides many different commercial varieties of hops internationally
Hops are flowers, the female parts of the plants, also called cones
Harvesting is a labour intensive process, it’s hot and noisy work.
There’s a knack to tying the ends of the hop to the ‘vine track’
The vines are then hung upside down to help open them up
This makes it easier for the picking machine to strip the cones away
The cones are then separated from “leaf & streak” - all the unwanted debris - and are then sent to the Oast
A fresh hop contains 86% water but that needs to be dried to as little as 10%
This helps preserve the hops so they can be used all year round
The process of Drying Hops hasn't changed a great deal from times gone by
Our oast is exactly the same. except we’ve mechanised it
The ambient temperatures are lower than average
and the first week of hop picking it rained. So you've got to dry the rain before you dry the hop
In the 16th century - hops were brought to the Weald of Kent by Flemish textile workers
This Wealden farm has a proud record of saving
old varieties from extinction,
and reintroducing them in to the 21st century as new
Safeguarded within the National Collection are 216 varieties of hops
but few of them are being grown commercially
Chris hopes to change that
In 1998 there were only 13 hop varieties in use
Today there are 27 - with more on the way
As a host of the National collection  the farm will bring back three hops strains next year.
to reintroduce variety takes three years to get enough material
we will have 3 acres of each in the ground next year
We also have our own
hop.
I found a hop growing in a hedge row, propagated it and it’s the heaviest yielding hop on the farm
We have a beer brewed with it called EPIC, the hop merchant decided that wasn't a bad name to name it EPIC
The National Hop Association have looked at the oils-profiles of it and it's on the list of new verities
This year we have 6 acres of it in the ground
The Hop’s bitter flavour brings balance to the sweet- maltiness of beer
These bitter qualities are derived from Alpha Acid
British hops generally contain lower levels of Alpha Acid
They’re also more aromatic and less bitter
than their counterparts grown in the more extreme climates of Europe and North America
It’s the aroma varieties that are in demand
we have a small acreage of bitter varieties
In Europe particularly in Germany, they can grow much higher yields of bitter varieties
so the UK is gradually pulling ours out
Taking his lead form American and New Zealand growers
Chris decided back in the 80s to expand in to grape production
The two crops work well together, and we’re busy all year-round
When you actually think about it, to grow a hop you need a narrow tractor, you need lots of labour
and you need sprayers - well we've got it all anyway
And the vineyard’s produce is in demand
Chapel Down an award winning, world class producer of wine
has leased land from the neighbouring farm for Chris to expand
because we have a reputation for quality grapes from this farm are always fermented separately
so it’s possible to walk in to another winery and have a bottle of wine that we know comes from us
Like the characteristic tastes of wines
where the regional natural environments shapes the flavour
hops are similarly influenced
Producing quality in quantity depends on hard work and investment
and having a reliable market makes this possible
Chris only sells directly to a merchant
You don’t have to have the vagaries of the spot- market
which can be like a roller-coster, so we know exactly what we’re going to earn at the end of the day
and in fact that's the way I do everything with the farm, we don’t grow anything without a contract.
If you're making an English beer, you'll need English hops
and Hoads Farm produces some of the finest
And despite the season's rain
the farm is hoping to produce enough hops to make 95 million pints
That makes a lot of beer
