24 April 2009

More hops!

Speaking of hops, I've decided to delve into the world of growing hops! After seeing pictures of fellow homebrewers with buckets full of fresh hop cones, I began to dream of trellises wrapped with hop vines and the aroma of a wet hop ale.

My friend Jason got me started by generously donating a Nugget rhizome, which has broken through the soil in its flower pot and is steadily inching skyward.

The excitement prompted me to buy a few more from Freshops: Chinook, Cascade, and Centennial. I had ordered them UPS Ground but got an email from Dave at Freshops saying that UPS Ground was too slow to Pennsylvania and that he'd send it Airmail with a refund (was cheaper too!). Less than a week later I had hop rhizomes in my mailbox with a few dollars tucked in. Now THAT'S service!

So thank you to Dave for the excellent service and thank you to Jason for pushing me in the right direction. I now have the construction of 12-foot 4"x4" posts joined by wire and twine sticking out of my yard to look forward to!


Cheers!

06 April 2009

Hop p0rn

Just found this.

The folks over at Hops Direct maintain a blog, complete with pictures. If these don't make you drool or you don't get a goose egg on your forehead from trying to sniff the pictures, something's seriously wrong with you.

Cheers!