We first began homebrewing in 1997 in our tiny, apartment kitchen; by the winter of 2002, our little stove-top pots and kettles had morphed into a 1-barrel, all-grain operation. For us, planting a few hops was inevitable on the path to control as much of our process as possible, and in 2006, we put our first 40 plants in the ground and have expanded every year since. We worked hard to find and cultivate hops that worked well in our recipes and that grew well in Maryland’s finicky climate. We quickly discovered the joys of working with an extremely fresh product that had the unique flavor profile of our own backyard.
Today, we have a full-service hop harvest facility, 4,000 plants, other yards we manage, more plans to expand, and a driving desire to continue to provide the quantity and quality necessary to keep local hops in our local beers. We, also, still brew as often as farmers have time to and are in the process of opening our very own farm brewery where we can all tip our glasses to fresh ingredients grown on local farms. Contact us at blacklocusthops@gmail.com.
