Our Organic Hop Yard

We started growing hops organically several years ago as an experiment and for our own brewing requirements. We were told they "couldn't be grown" in the San Diego region due to relatively shorter growing light cycles that prevail from Santa Barbara and north. Additionally, water is very expensive here and would hinder much of a profit margin.

We found much of this to be true, however we were able to locate what seemed to be a "perfect" Southern California location which negated virtually all of the hindrances. Because we have had such an influx of inquiries and demand for our "organic, locally grown" hops, we purchased 7 1/2 acres in the foothills above Santa Ysabel at an altitude of 3500ft. We get the appropriate freezing weather in the winter to "set" the rhizomes for proper growth in the spring. We are also on a well which helps reduce the cost related to water. Additionally, we've done the research to get the maximum cone yield with the reduced growing season. We make up our own fertilizer "teas" so we can be completely organic, which means we are CCOF compliant.

We also have a complete lab for testing Alpha and Beta acid content, soil composition, pH, etc. We are in the process of purchasing a hops pelletizer so we can supply hop pellets, dried hops flowers, and FRESH hops (which we can supply since they are "locally grown").

We are currently offering six varities of hops (Cascade, Columbus, Chinook, Centennial, Mount Hood, and Willamette) which do quite well in our environment. We experimented with three others (Nugget, Sterling, and Glacier), but had only moderate results with cone yield. Below is the Alpha and Beta acid content we measured for our current six hops varieties. If you want to learn a little history about these varities, please click here.

Variety	Alpha Acid	Beta Acid
Cascade	4.5-7.0%	4.8-7.0%
Columbus	14-18%	4.5-5.5%
Chinook	3.0-4.0%	12-14%
Centennial	3.5-4.5%	9.5-11.5%
Mount Hood	4.0-7.0%	5.0-8.0%
Willamette	3.5-4.5%	4.0-6.0%