Garden Brew

I just found out that yesterday was 'National American Beer Day'. Who knew? Well, in honor of this All- American day I thought I would post some photos of the organic hops that I grew in my garden for my cousin John to use in his delicious homemade brews!

I had forgotten what type of hops that I had planted, but my cousin said they are called, 'Cascade'.
The plants were gorgeous and they grew all over a trellis my husband built creating a beautiful hops tunnel.

I was stalking a local hops grower to see when he picked his hops because I didn't know exactly what the correct peak picking time was. The first year I grew them I waited too long and then Hurricane Sandy blew them all over the neighborhood.

Here are images of my hops drying process in my food dehydrator then all packed up to ship to John and his brewing partner Mandy.

Here is John (wearing my Grandfathers lucky cowboy hat!) and Mandy creating their brews.  They created a pumpkin spice beer and a coffee stout using my hops in both as a finishing hop at the end of the final boil.

Mandy and John with their delicious masterpieces! Their brewery is called Hyland Dawn Brewing. Fun!