Stringing Our Hops

We’ve finished hop stringing for this year, phew! If you have never visited a hop farm you might be wondering what string and hops have in common. Hops are related to the cannabis plant but sadly unlike cannabis which has a self-standing stem, hops behave much like beans – they need to grow up a structure or string. Every hop yard has to be “strung” by hand. We do this using a pole called a “monkey”. The string guided by the “monkey” from a hook on the top wire to a peg in the ground beside every plant. Each year we use around 900 kilometres (approx. 560 miles) of string for our hops! The string we use is made of coir, it is biodegradable and comes all the way from Sri Lanka. For more photos of our hops & updates on the growing season follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.