Hops growers find success in craft beer biz
Aroostook Hops, an organic farm in Westfield, has been finding success growing hops for Allagash Brewing Company, Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Company and other craft breweries, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Run by Krista Delahunty and Jason Johnston, two biologists who teach at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, the farm has one mature acre with five varieties of hops and three 4-year-old acres envisioned for an expansion in the coming years.
The breweries buy the farm’s fresh hops for wet-hop ales, which uses hops that haven’t been dried and processed.
Delahunty and Johnston moved to Westfield in 2007, around a national hops shortage, and decided to experiment, knowing Aroostook’s soil and northern geography were right for the climbing perennial plant.
“Hop growing involves a lot of investment financially,” Delahunty told the paper.
Recently, they purchased a mechanical harvester, replacing volunteers of college students and community members who helped pick the thousands of flowers, as well as a drying rack and pelletizer machine.
Craft beer is a growing business in Maine. One of the latest in the industry is the Craft Beer Cellar franchise store, in Gardiner, expected to open late next month.
Owner John Callinan was able to get established thanks to $45,000 in financial incentives from a program run by Gardiner Main Street, a program largely funded by a $125,000 commitment from The Bank of Maine.
Callinan bought the building at 339 Water St. in May for $115,000, gutted the interior and added a new ceiling, floor and electric wiring.
It’s the second Maine franchise location for the Craft Beer Cellar, which opened its first store in Belmont, Mass., in 2010 and now has 19 stores open around the country, according to its website.
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