Herefordshire based hop farm Brook House Hops have recently invested over £100,000 into their facilities on the back of customer feedback and encouragement, purchasing a much sought after hop pellet mill.
Officially launched in 2018, Brook House Hops are an independent hop farm based in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside, growing their own hops on just shy of 100 acres of hop fields as well as sourcing unique strains from around the world.
Selling directly to brewers, Brook House Hops have taken the route of cutting out the hop merchants to provide quality, often artisan hop strains to craft and traditional brewers alike.
Since launching last year, business has boomed due to the popularity of not just home grown, locally sourced hops but also the unique aromas that come from those grown in the rich, red, Herefordshire soil.
Brook House Hops were asked by customers to provide pelleted hops alongside their whole leaf offerings. Being a business which prides itself on its care for customers, Brook House Hops readily invested in the new pellet mill which was just installed at their farm in Bromyard, just outside the Malvern Hills in Herefordshire.
“Our main goal is to serve the needs of brewers, so we are building relationships with them and trading in ways that benefit both parties.” says Sales Manager, Sebastian Nielsen, “that means selling hops directly and sourcing interesting and unique varieties, which we can do thanks to our farm relationships across the globe. When customers started asking for our hops in pellet form, we took the decision to seriously consider the request.”
Last month, they decided to take the plunge and made a 6 figure investment into a state of the art, low-temperature pellet processing facility. It was fundamental to Brook House that no corners were cut on this project, so the equipment they sourced had to be strictly top of the line.
Owner Will Kirby notes: “the key to the pellet creation process is cooling and making sure the pellets do not reach high temperatures, as this would mean they lose their vitality, flavour and aroma. Brewers want the freshest hops and we wanted a solution which gave us pellets but maintained that Brook House freshness.
“We have achieved that with this investment. The pellets crumble when rubbed in your hand but are not so soft that they can’t withhold storage, handling and transportation activity. Our pellets also go straight into a cold store after being nitrogen flushed and vacuum sealed, where they are stored between 0-5 centigrade to maintain freshness. Quality is so important to us and we think we have invested in the perfect solution.”
After a week of setting up the equipment and testing the process, the team are now in full production. Pellets are going through industry leading processing procedures at low temperatures and then going straight to the cold store.
“This investment symbolises our commitment to quality” Sebastian adds, “brewers want high-quality pellets that dissolve properly in their brewing process. This is a state of the art pellet mill and our goal is to make the best pellets on the market.”
In the spirit of collaboration, Brook House Hops intends to send out samples soon to a few select few customers who have volunteered to help them get the consistency spot on, then they will have them available for sale on their online shop and via their sales team.
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Brook House Hops is a hop farm and producer based in Herefordshire, UK, established in 2018. They grow their own hops which are truly unique thanks to the rich unique UK terroir and Herefordshire soil. Brook House also sources niche hop strains from around the world and are meticulous about quality.
Brook House was established to give customers flexibility in their choices and access to the very best UK hops, without having to go via a traditionally inflexible hop merchant. As well as exotic hop offerings from around the globe, they grow some of the most aromatic, verdant hops in the world which they achieve by using a mixture of the latest technology and traditional farming expertise.
Find out more by visiting the website at https://brookhousehops.com or finding them on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BrookHouseHops
https://twitter.com/brookhousehops
https://www.instagram.com/brookhousehops/
For more information, please contact Judi-mae Alderton at Mae Day Marketing: judi-mae@maeday.co.uk, 07828 852448