It looks less like a flower and more like a small cone the size of a thumb.
But stick a handful of them under your nose and the scent is undeniable.
“They smell just like beer,” said Paul Malewski as he held out a handful of dried hops from last year’s harvest at Mid Michigan Hops Inc.
Malewski, 55, who retired as the Eaton Rapids police chief just over a year ago, peels back some of the tiny leaves on the hops and points to the sticky, yellow substance inside. That’s lupulin and it’s what gives craft beer its bitter taste.
The former police chief is part of a tightknit group that opened Mid Michigan Hops, a small operation in 2006 on one-quarter of an acre off Houston Road in Eaton Rapids.
Malewski’s partners are Nathan Brown, 40, general manager at Tetra Corp. in Eaton Rapids; John Driggs, 71, a retired Consumers Energo Co. electric superintendent; and Scott Poyer, utilities director for Eaton Rapids.
Malewski said he and his partners knew very little about hops when they bought 120 rhizomes, or hops plant roots, and put them in the ground. A published article had piqued their interest, he said, and sparked the idea.
“The only thing we knew about hops was it was in beer and we all drank beer,” Malewski said. “It looked like a good hobby. We all have some interest in horticulture and agriculture.”
Now, Mid Michigan Hops consists of 120 plants that grow up wooden stakes in the ground like vines — “bines” in hops terminology. They then grow across airplane cables that run horizontally from the stakes.
By September or October, the hops bines should be thick and heavy with the flowers, ready to be cut down and harvested.
Last year, the Eaton Rapids farm produced 170 pounds of hops. The bitter flowers go a long way in beer production. Two-thirds of an ounce will flavor 6 gallons of beer.
Mid Michigan Hops has sold to micro- and nano breweries around the state. Later this year, its investors will expand the farm to a full acre, boosting the harvest to 800 pounds.
Although still unique in Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties, hops farms are steadily popping up in the Midwest.
Rob Sirrine, a community food systems educator with Michigan State University Extension based in Leelanau County, said Michigan’s climate and soil are conducive to hops farming. That, coupled with the rise of microbreweries in the state, is giving way to a new business.
Sirrine said there are 160 microbreweries in Michigan and more are on the way. He said hops farms are growing too, although an exact number isn’t known. He estimates there are close to 400 acres planted throughout the state currently.
For the past four years Sirrine has been in charge of an MSU Extension “test” hops farm containing 14 different varieties of hops. It is located at the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center just northwest of Traverse City.
The hops there fill just one-third of an acre but the operation, funded through a $38,000 state grant, is allowing staff at MSU Extension to discover which hops plants grow best in this region and to target the best management practices for growing the plant.
Staff then provide information and resources to people who want to become part of the growing hops farm industry.
Sirrine said his office receives one or two requests a day for information from people looking to start their own farms. Staff members provide as much outreach as they can. They are a presence at the annual Great Lakes Expo, held in Grand Rapids in December. They also offer a tour of several hops farms in Michigan every August.
“It’s a really cool opportunity for growers who are trying to diversify into something else they’re interested in,” Sirrine said. “It’s expanding quickly.”
Large hops farm start-ups can be an expensive investment. Sirrine said drip-irrigated fields and hops-picking machinery can cost $10,000 to $12,000 an acre.
“We’ve seen probably $10 million in infrastructure for hops in Michigan,” he said. “As long as we keep that money around throughout Michigan I just see positives.”
For smaller operations like Mid Michigan Hops, the cash investment is modest. Brown said their farm cost just $2,000 to start.
What’s more, the plants, once seeded, multiply over the years and have a life span of 25 years. “They’re an extremely hardy plant,” Driggs said.
“They take a lot of weather. You can’t freeze them out in the winter. They’ll climb anything they can get to.”
Brown said this fall the hops plants at the Eaton Rapids farm will be covered with flowers and ready to be picked. “You won’t be able to see the cables,” he said. “They’ll be absolutely covered.”
That’s when the work becomes labor intensive. The heavy bines are cut down by hand at Mid Michigan Hops. There are no machines to do the picking so help is needed.
“Then you get all the busy fingers you can find,” Driggs said.
Last fall, friends, family and neighbors lent a hand spending up to 10 hours a day, for three days picking off all the hops flowers. Afterward the hops are dried and sold.
Since its start the Eaton Rapids farm has sold to microbreweries, including Arcadia Brewing Co. in Battle Creek and Dark Horse Brewing Co. in Marshall. They’ve also sold to smaller nano breweries and what Brown calls “weekend warrior home brewers.”
Beer supply operations like The Red Salamander in Grand Ledge have also purchased hops from them.
Karl Glarner, 47, of Grand Ledge has owned the Red Salamander since 1997. His business, at 902 E. Saginaw Highway, carries 35 different hops varieties. He said several are grown in Michigan, and added that this region produces a “milder” or gentler” flavored hops than varieties grown in the Pacific Northwest.
“I really try to push Michigan hops,” Glarner said. “I’m a fan of them.”
Customers travel to The Red Salamander from throughout the Lansing area, but also from Grand Rapids and Jackson, he said.
Glarner grows some of his own hops at home for home-brew beer making, something he’s been doing since age 19. The popularity of microbrewery beer doesn’t surprise him, he said, and hops farming goes hand-in-hand with it.
“I don’t mind drinking a cold Miller Light on a summer day but in the winter I want something more warming, full-bodied, something that will warm me up,” Glarner said.
Driggs understands the sentiment and said he’s been brewing beer at home for 50 years. Getting involved in Mid Michigan Hops only increased his appreciation, he says, for craft beers and for the different hops flavors.
“The nuances of it and the flavor, it’s like a fine wine,” Driggs said of brewing beer.
Hops farming carries with it perks that are separate though. “I think it’s the whole circle,” Brown said. “It’s the people that you meet, it’s being out in the yard, it’s the enjoyment of it on many, many facets.”
Malewski agreed. “Here, you’re not going to make a million dollars but it’s fun.”
Source: MEDC
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