2025 Hop Harvest completed in record time by Tongham Brewery
- Guild Secretary
- Oct 3
- 4 min read
Surrey-based Hogs Back Brewery managed to bring in its entire hop harvest in record time this year. The harvesting of hops was completed with just three weeks’ work, thanks to the endeavours of Estate Manager Matthew King, and his team of 80 strong volunteers, aka the Hogs Back Hoppers.
The Hoppers, comprising of locals and some from further afield, who help out in the hop garden throughout the year, come into their own at harvest time and made short work of the three hop varieties grown at the Brewery: Fuggles, used in its flagship Traditional English Ale, Tongham TEA; English Cascade, used in its Hogstar lager, Surrey Nirvana Session IPA and Little Swine Alcohol Free Pale Ale; and Farnham White Bine, the heritage hop, that Hogs Back has brought back to its spiritual home.
The hop garden, which sits adjacent to the brewery, covers 8.5 acres, and ordinarily provides over 50% of the Brewery’s annual hop requirements.
Estate Manager, Matthew King, said, “2025 has been a real challenge given the extraordinary weather. We experienced the UK’s warmest and sunniest spring on record, as well as the driest for more than 100 years. June produced another record temperature, while August saw the fourth heatwave of the summer.
“To exacerbate issues, there was a multitude of male hop plants in the hop garden – far more than normal. It is only the female plants that produce the hop cones but a few male plants are needed for obvious reasons!
“The lack of rain during the important growing season has meant the hop bines were sending out roots in search of ground moisture, rather than producing the laterals, where the hop cones form. This has resulted in a much smaller crop than normal. But we have high hopes that the quality of the hops will be good, giving our beers their distinctive flavour.”
This year, the 86 rows of hops under cultivation at the Brewery have produced a modest 1.5 tonnes, or 30 zentners to use the traditional hop measure.
Miles Chesterman, Managing Director Hogs Back Brewery, added, “Growing our own hops makes our brewing more sustainable and allows us to pick the hops at the peak of freshness - the hops are cut from the hop garden, picked, dried and packed here on site all within 24 hours. But it also presents challenges, which are all part and parcel of growing a commercial crop. Hop growers across the country have experienced a challenging season, with some harvest estimates as low as over 50% down on previous years. But we are in a good position, with a good proportion of our hops remaining home-grown, and already safely stowed away in the Hop Store!
“With hotter summers likely to become more prevalent, we are investigating ways to irrigate the hop garden using rain water collected through the year - not only to protect the crop but also to make our operation even more sustainable.
“We are hugely grateful to the Hogs Back Hoppers and to Matthew for his skilful and dedicated care of the hops, and are looking forward to tasting Green TEA, our seasonal twist on Tongham TEA, brewed with hops picked fresh the hop garden on the morning of the brew.”
Green-hopped beers are traditional at autumn harvest time, and Hogs Back Green TEA will be pouring shortly in the Brewery Shop and Tap in Tongham, as well as selected, local Independent Free Trade pubs.
Notes to Editors:
Hogs Back Brewery
Hogs Back Brewery was founded in 1992 in Tongham, in the traditional hop growing region of Surrey. Its flagship brand, Tongham TEA (Traditional English Ale), is a leading regional ale in the south-east.
In 2014 Hogs Back planted its own revival hop garden, and since then has been successfully harvesting its Fuggles, English Cascade, and Farnham White Bine hops, which provide approximately 50% of its annual hop requirements. It is the largest integrated hop grower and brewer in the UK.
In 2024, it won the Le May Cup for its White Bine hop and received Gold and Silver awards for its Fuggles and English Cascade hops, respectively.
The brewery's range includes award-winning draught, bottled, and canned beers, showcasing its blend of brewing expertise and innovation. Notable awards include:
Little Swine 0.5%: Gold medals in the European Beer Challenge 2024 and SIBA National Independent Beer Awards 2024.
A over T (Aromas over Tongham) 9% ABV: CAMRA’s Champion Bottled Beer of Britain 2020.
Hogstar lager: Gold medal in the World Beer Awards 2017.
Hazy Hog: Bronze medal in the International Cider Challenge 2019.
Tongham TEA: The first beer brewed by Hogs Back in 1992, Tongham TEA has won multiple awards including runner-up in CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain in 2000.
Committed to sustainability, Hogs Back has introduced 120 solar panels to its roof, sells spent grain to local farmers as animal feed and aims to reduce its single-use plastic, having introduced refillable glass Snorters and Snifters flagons. It has removed over 20,000 PETs bottles from its business and earning Plastic Free Champion status from Surfers Against Sewage.
In January 2025, Miles Chesterman became Managing Director, with owner Rupert Thompson now serving as Executive Chairman.
In 2024, Hogs Back stepped in to help craft brewer Mondo, investing to secure the future of its brands and the brewery and taproom in Battersea.
In May 2025, Hogs Back entered into a collaboration with Exmoor Ales, investing in a restructure and taking a 40% stake in the new business, Exmoor Drinks Ltd.
Natalia Sharomova is an award-winning photojournalist, based in Farnham, Surrey, who visited Hogs Back Brewery to record the 2025 hop harvest. @nataliasharomova
Contact:
Jill Adams, Director of Marketing, Hogs Back Brewery
07879 334675
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