Hop to it!

They couldn’t get rid of it, so in true Kiwi fashion, decided to use it to make beer (of course!). Hops are a rare sight in these parts. They sometimes appear in gardens planted by inquisitive gardeners looking for something different.

Ian Whillans has a row of historically interesting hops growing on his lifestyle block in Clarkville. The 2-year-old cuttings were taken from plants that have been growing for some 150 years and have survived the rigours of many South Canterbury winters – and many attempts to remove them.

He and wife Joan farmed Ruapuna, near Mayfield at the foot of the Mt Peel range. This is why Ruapuna and the range feature on the cans of beer produced from those hops.

Ruapuna was one of 14 farms subdivided in 1910 from the original 4400-acre farm owned by the Ballantynes

(of Christchurch department store fame). Mr Ballantyne must have been a bit of a collector and he salvaged some cabins from a ship (the Elginshire) wrecked off the Timaru coast in 1892 to be used as single men’s quarters.

When Ian’s father moved in after returning from serving in the army during World War II, the cabins had been smothered in a mixture of convolvulus and hops. “We tried many times to clear it and get rid of both the hops and the convolvulus, but it was impossible,” says Ian.

Ian and Joan retired from the farm on the banks of the Rangitata River 20 years ago and moved north to the fertile area once called Kaiapoi Island not far from another great South Island river, the Waimakariri. Their son David now farms Ruapuna and with the increase in home brewing and craft beers, he and Ian decided to find out more about the hops that still overran the captain’s cabin, wheelhouse and chart room taken from the Elginshire.

Lincoln University was called on to identify the variety and from their findings, it is closely related to an old English variety called ‘Fuggle’. That it has survived a century and a half could mean it has qualities worth preserving and cultivating in new strains of hops that the industry is always keen to hear about.

Strictly speaking, Ian’s plants in Clarkville are only two years old but having had them as a constant part of his farming life, he likes to think they are having their 152nd birthday soon. He hand harvested his hop cones last year getting 6kg and using 2kg – enough for a 300-litre brew. The other 4kg are in the freezer. Campbell Parker of Kaiaser Beer House was interested to trial the 150-year-old hops in that search for the perfect taste and produced the cans of Ruapuna, declaring it a good drop.

Hops, which can grow 15cm in 24 hours, have been used to make beer for more than 1200 years: one of four vital ingredients, the others being water, malt (grain) and yeast.

The small but powerfully scented flowers of Humulus, a member of the hemp family (Cannabinaceae), are called cones, and they hang delicately like little paper lanterns on the vines. The delightful citrus-y green aroma wafts from an appealing layering of lime green petals that give off a “crinkly crackly” sound when crushed. It is this aroma that creates the excitement of a new hop for brewers who are always looking for a new taste, whether from the hop itself or added ingredients such as mānuka or Earl Grey tea. The Hop Research Centre in Riwaka, near Motueka, grafts different strains and creates new hops, brews them, and only keeps the hop strains that work well.

Anyone can grow their own hops along a fence or trellis as long as they have room to go up. Traditionally they are grown up strings to a height of 5m but of course, this isn’t necessarily practical for the home gardener. An open canopy is essential as the cones need light.

The appealing fragrance of hops is matched by their appearance and are well worth growing, just don’t let them get away on you. If you have an unsightly fence or wall, try hops for the summer. You will have a prettier – and more aromatic – view. 