Traditional ceremony to encourage healthy harvest
Surrey-based Hogs Back Brewery welcomed 200 guests to an official blessing of its hop garden in Tongham by local vicar Rev. Claire Holt, held on Ascension Day (26 May).
Blessing of crops is a tradition dating back centuries in rural communities, as a way of encouraging plentiful harvests. Hogs Back’s 8.5-acre hop garden is home to 6,000 hop plants, which are currently climbing up posts and wires and expected to be ready to harvest in late August.
Blessing the hops, Rev. Holt, of St Paul’s Church in Tongham, explained the origins of the ceremony, which was traditionally held on Ascension Day. She said: “When the crops were planted, a group of young and old people from the village, usually led by the priest, would walk round the boundaries of the parish, stopping at each boundary post to pray for the protection of the crops. We haven’t done that today, but we have kept the other tradition of raising a glass of ale.
“Blessing the Hogs Back hop garden therefore continues a tradition that would certainly have been part of the cycle of hop growing in Farnham for many years. It gives me great joy to lead today’s prayers for the Hogs Back hop garden, the brewery, and all who work in them, for this year and long into the future.”
Rupert Thompson, Hogs Back Brewery managing director, said: “Ever since we planted our first hop garden eight years ago, we’ve respected local traditions and were delighted to welcome back Rev. Holt, who conducted a blessing for us at our first garden in 2014 and then in 2019 after we relocated it to the current, larger site. She also returned in 2020 for a socially-distanced blessing, which we streamed to our locked-down friends and followers.
“Centuries ago, crop blessing was a way of recognising the interdependence between man and the natural world, and today, we’ve come full circle, with the environment our single biggest focus after a couple of centuries where we forgot to respect it. Our mission at Hogs Back is to become an ever more sustainable brewer and we are making plans to invest in measures that we hope will take us to net carbon zero by 2030. Blessing our crops is as much about our present and future as our past.”
With the hops duly blessed, the Hogs Back team led by estate manager Matthew King will now be tending the bines carefully to encourage a healthy harvest later in the year. Three varieties are being grown in the new garden: Fuggles – used in the brewer’s flagship Tongham TEA ale; Cascade – used in its Hogstar lager; and Farnham White Bine – a local variety that they have revived from near-extinction.
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Notes to editors:
Hogs Back Hop Garden
- Hogs Back harvested 6,000 hop plants in 2021, from its garden occupying 8.5 acres of prime farmland next to the brewery.
- The hop plants are supported with over 100 large posts and 10 miles of high tensile steel wire, strung 18ft above the plants.
- Hogs Back planted its original, 3.5-acre hop garden in 2014, and completed four harvests before moving to the larger site in spring 2019.
- Hogs Back cultivates three hop varieties: Fuggles – used in its flagship TEA; Cascade – used in Hogstar lager; and Farnham White Bine.
- Farnham was historically one of the most important hop farming regions in the UK. The Farnham area is ideal for hop growing with a rich, loamy topsoil over a chalky subsoil.
- The Farnham White Bine hop was originally developed in the early 1700s just a mile and a half from the current Hogs Back brewery. It was highly prized for its aromas and was the precursor variety to the better-known Kent Goldings.
Hogs Back Brewery
- Hogs Back Brewery was founded in 1992 in Tongham, in the heart of the traditional Surrey hop growing area.
- Its flagship brand Tongham TEA, or Traditional English Ale, is one of the leading regional ales in the South East. 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.
- Other awards include CAMRA’s Champion Bottled Beer of Britain 2020 for its A over T (Aromas over Tongham) 9% ABV bottle conditioned barley wine and a Bronze medal in the International Cider Challenge 2019 for its traditional cloudy cider, Hazy Hog.
- The Hogs Back Brewery range includes a number of award-winning draught, bottled and canned beers, demonstrating its ability to combine brewing expertise and tradition with product innovation to create distinctive, memorable beers.
- While pubs were closed during lockdown, Hogs Back sold its beers through supermarkets and direct to customers, offering Drive Through and Click & Collect options at the brewery, or delivering direct to homes. Details on all options can be viewed on the website.
- As part of its drive to become an ever more sustainable brewer, Hogs Back is aiming to eliminate single use plastic. They have introduced refillable glass Snorters (3.5 pints) and Snifters (1 ¾ pints), and to date have removed 12,000 PETs, earning them Plastic Free Champion status from Surfers Against Sewage.
- www.hogsback.co.uk.
Hop farming in Farnham
- Farnham was historically one of the most important hop farming regions in the UK. At its peak in the 1870s, hops accounted for around 40% of the land available for farming in the parish. The Farnham area was ideal for hop growing with a rich, loamy topsoil over a chalky subsoil.
- Farnham hops commanded a premium price, with a hop pocket – 240lb of dried hops – selling for £9 – £10 in the early 1800s, compared to only £7 – £9 for Kentish hops.
- The Farnham White Bine hop was originally developed in the early 1700s just a mile and a half from the current Hogs Back brewery. It was highly prized for its aromas and was the precursor variety to the better-known Kent Goldings.
- In Farnham, unlike Kent and other growing areas, farmers chose to harvest the hops before they were completely ripe, resulting in a two-week period of intense work for the pickers and a need to supplement local labour with imported labour.
- A carnival atmosphere prevailed during the hop harvest: schools were closed, church attendance fell off and shops opened on Sundays to take the money from hop pickers.
- The hops, once dried and packed down into pockets or sacks, were sold to brewers in the Farnham area and to West Country brewers, who purchased them at the Weyhill Fair near Andover.
- Hop farming in Farnham started to wane at the end of the 19th century in the face of growing competition from the Kent hops, which were preferred by London’s brewers, and the rising cost of agricultural labour. The industry declined and finally died out in the mid-1970s.
Press release from Hogs Back Brewery
Issued by: ShielPorter Communications
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