Iowa's largest hops farm harvests first commercial crop

Most of the hops used to create the beers at Big Grove Brewery are trucked halfway across the country before arriving in Solon.

This fall, however, the key ingredient in the brewery's annual harvest beer will be picked only a few miles away.

Buck Creek Hops, the newest and largest hops farm in Iowa, has begun harvesting its first large-scale commercial crop just outside Solon after planting 25,000 plants on 25 acres this spring.

Though its initial harvest will be small one — the vine-growing plants take a few years to reach full maturity — Buck Creek has begun supplying its hops to craft breweries around the region, including Big Grove.

"A lot of people don't think about the supply chain for their beer or their wine or their food," said Bill Heinrich, the head brewer at Big Grove. "But having Buck Creek close really does give people a good sense of what it takes as a brewer to get beer to people. They can see the amount of work they're putting in, and they can see the amount of work the brewery is putting in."

Buck Creek owner Mark Pattison and his four partners have transformed much of his farmland at 2434 Turner Ave., midway between Iowa City and Solon, into a hop yard they say is among the largest in the Midwest. After growing a test crop last year, the partners erected 1,600 poles, each 22 feet tall, creating a wide network of trellises for the hops vines to climb.

The partners also built a large harvesting building this summer — a 120-foot by 60-foot facility housing a stationary harvest machine, much like a thresher, that was shipped from Germany. Buck Creek's operation will have the capability to process hops cones into pellets, which is the form of the ingredient many breweries like Big Grove use in their brewing.

All told, Pattison expects to harvest about 1,000 pounds of hops this year, though that is just a fraction of what they hope to grow in the coming seasons. They've planted seven varieties, with four currently available: Chinook, Cascade, Nugget and Columbus.

"It's our first year and a small crop," Pattison said. "We'll be more at full production next year and the year after. It takes a hop plant three years to mature. The first year is mainly just getting the roots started, and you hope to get some crop."

Buck Creek has invited brewers to hand pick their own hops this year, which Pattison said is beneficial for those creating batches of "wet hops" beer — using the cones straight off the vine before they're processed and dried.

At Big Grove, Heinrich and his crew typically use hops from the Pacific Northwest — where the vast majority of the nation's hops originate — in their core portfolio beers, but partner with local growers in the fall for their harvest beers. This year, Big Grove is exclusively using fresh-picked hops from Buck Creek. As Pattison's operation continues to grow, Heinrich said his brewery hopes to partner with them to create a year-round beer featuring Iowa hops.

With hops prices soaring in recent years amid a craft brewing boom, Heinrich said many have tried to cash in by growing hops commercially. What could set Buck Creek apart in the long run, though, is the up-front investment Pattison and his partners are putting in to establish a larger operation with automated equipment.

"The more I watch him do it, and the more we start to work with them, I think he has a better feel for what it's going to take to make a successful long-term project instead of just a short-term windfall.," Heinrich said. "I'm really hoping he does well; I think he's going to be a good partner moving forward.

"Having a local supplier on the hops side I think is the next step of what we want to do as an industry in Iowa."

Teresa Albert, owner of Millstream Brewing Co. in Amana, said her brewery plans to handpick hops at Buck Creek this fall to use in its Iowa Pale Ale. Albert said while some flavoring ingredients for beer can be found locally for Iowa brewers, the core ingredients — including hops, malt and yeast — are largely outsourced.

"We are really excited about the potential revival of hops growing in Iowa," Albert said.

Reach Josh O’Leary at joleary@press-citizen.com or 887-5415, and follow him on Twitter at @JD_OLeary.