What is the place?
Located on a 250-acre former dairy farm just south of Hinesburg, Champlain Valley Hops processed 24,000 pounds of the beer ingredient in its first harvest for commercial use last year. The farm, founded by Julian Post and Peter Briggs, grows hops on 37 acres in Starksboro, with 18-foot poles rising from the flat, sandy ground to support the vines that climb skyward. Champlain Valley Hops has 42 commercial-brewery customers, more than 30 of which are in Vermont, as well as several homebrewing customers.
Most hops in the United States – 98 percent, according to Max Licker, sales manager for Champlain Valley Hops – are grown in the Pacific Northwest. “Proprietary hops are pretty sexy right now,” he said of varieties such as Citra and Mosaic that are grown in Washington, Oregon and Idaho and whose rights are maintained solely by large corporations.