The @HawksbillHops Press Release

This post is going up on May 1, which - whatever the weather holds - is the day before we're planning to have a rhizomes planting event at the farm.  While we're all (hopefully) looking forward to enjoying our day, I thought I might go ahead and put up the text of our first press release, which went out last week.  It follows:

Press Release

April 28, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LURAY HOPS FARM WILL SERVE VIRGINIA’S GROWING CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY

Following the growth of Virginia’s craft beer industry to include more than 100 breweries across the state, and an emerging interest in the use of locally-grown ingredients, Page County is also joining the trend with the establishment of Hawksbill Hop Yards LLC, a two-acre hops farm starting up just north of Luray. 

Hops are an essential ingredient in beer, and the growing interest in craft brewing has led to a surge in demand for them.  According to a Wikipedia article about hops, “They are the female flowers … of the hop plant, Humulus lupulis.  They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine.”

Hawksbill Hop Yards LLC has leased two acres from Public House Produce and has plans to establish 800 plants during the spring of 2015.  Activities completed or underway include preparing the ground and building the 16-foot tall trellis.  Also, on May 2, the farm plans to hold a volunteer spring planting event to establish the rhizomes, which will include six varieties of hops:  Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, CTZ, Fuggles, and Goldings.

Founder Jim Turner, also known by his Twitter handle “Cabin Jim,” said, “There’s already a vibrant community of brewers in Page County, and some of them even grow their own hops in their gardens.  I took some inspiration from that and looked for ways to bring an innovative commercial crop to the community, something that would serve to plug us in to a statewide trend.”

He added that a commercial hop yard may be just the first step to other craft brewing ventures in Page County, which could include anything from essential processing and distribution activities to the actual establishment of a craft brewery.  “There’s a lot of interest in having a local brewery in Page County,” Turner said, “and now that we have a hops grower here, it would be great to see some energy focused on building a local customer for our hops!”

For further information, contact Jim Turner via email at HawksbillHops@gmail.com, or by cell phone at (703) 981-XXXX; one can also follow the hops yard on Twitter at @HawksbillHops.

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