Hop-hop horray as Yorkshire growers prove a hit

Now, the 32-year-old and his business partner Chris Bradley are seeing their hop growing enterprise - the only one in Yorkshire - really take off with some of the top local breweries in line for a share of their latest crop.

Their harvest began last week and the results of their second summer of growth has produced spectacular results.

Last year the plants next to Chris’s farmhouse at Whinneymoor Farm in Ellerker, East Yorkshire, produced 130kg of hops but this year is completely different with this month’s harvest expected to pull in around 2,000kg of hops.

It is a massive boost for Matthew, who has long experimented as a home brewer.

The venture got started when he approached Chris, a friend of his father’s, with the idea. After drawing up a detailed business plan, which involved convincing breweries to sponsor rows of hops in return for a supply of the crop, Chris put up a five-figure sum to purchase everything they needed to get started.

Now, Yorkshire Hops has the sponsorship of the likes of Black Sheep and Ossett breweries.

“The growing conditions this year have been ideal,” said Matthew. “We’ve been very lucky. The amount of hops from two new varieties we have added is unbelievable.

“Since we got started it’s been pretty manic. The breweries that sponsored our first crops have come back on board and have ordered more this year. There’s still a bit of the unknown about us, and surprise that we grow hops in Yorkshire, but hopefully that’s something we’ll address with each harvest.”

Matthew and Chris now plant the hops in a second field and have added the Boadicea and New Pioneer varieties to a line up which also includes First Gold and Sovereign hops. The growing area extends to two hectares.

The majority of British hops are grown in the South East and the West Midlands, and the duo are pleased to buck the trend.

Matthew said: “A lot of people said you can’t grow hops in Yorkshire because of the weather but we’ve been educating people at beer festivals.”

Having started out harvesting by hand, the ante has been upped after Chris and Matthew travelled to Germany to choose the best hop picking and grading machines for their land.

Alan Dunn, head brewer at Black Sheep Brewery in Masham, is impressed having paid a visit to the farm this week to check on progress.

“Back in the day, hops would be grown all the way up to Scotland. It’s only the weather that’s precluded hop growing in the north more recently. It’s very labour intensive and involves costs being put upfront - there’s a fine line between being mad and being dedicated to the cause.

“It’s really interesting what Matthew and Chris are doing and their attention to detail has been second to none.”

It made perfect sense for Black Sheep to get involved, he said.

“Black Sheep is as Yorkshire as they come. All our beers are Yorkshire-style bitters so we try to get as much locally as we can. Our malt comes from James Fawcett in Castleford and this year we also took some from Muntons in Bridlington so to get hops from Yorkshire puts the seal on it.”

In a nod to where he started, Matthew plans to invite home brewers onto the site to pick their own hops. His success so far has led to part-time work as a brewer at Brass Castle Brewery in Malton. Those shifts as a waiter are long behind him.

A thriving marketplace

There are just over 50 farmers growing British hops in the country today, according to the British Hop Association.

First grown in the South-East, more than half of British hop production is now centred in the West Midlands.

Hop growing in Britain was at a peak at the turn of the last century.

In 1878 there were 71,000 acres dedicated to hop growing. Now there are 2,500 acres and about 50 growers.

The Romans used to grow hops up to the Scottish borders and the monks used to put hops in their ales in the abbeys.

Yorkshire Hops has every chance of success. In the early 1970s there were just 40 breweries left in Britain. Today, there are 1,285 - the most since the 1930s and 40s.