Hometown Hops New World Ales Revive South Bay’s Hops-Growing Legacy
New World Ales Revive a Bit of South Bay’s Hops-Growing Legacy
When Mark Denari founded New World Ales in 2015, it was a typical “follow your passion” business story with a twist: Teacher and hobbyist brew maker returns to school and graduates from the UC Davis Master Brewers Program with the goal of starting a beer business. Add another twist: Rather than sourcing key ingredients the way many breweries do, Mark decides to grow his own hops on a half-acre farm in San Martin.
This decision dovetailed with a budding interest in growing local hops, which used to be a more prevalent crop here, and crafting traditional ales brewed fresh in the South Bay. New World Ales brews a variety of beers all year round and their annual IPA fall release using South Bay Estate Grown hops is a nod to the region’s hop history.
“San Jose and the whole South Bay area produced some of the best hops in the world in the late 1800s,” explains Mark. Current-day Willow Glen and the surrounding area was home to 300 acres of hops and produced more than 400,000 pounds of hops annually. Prohibition and other factors led to their decline. Today, 95% of the nearly 56,000 acres devoted to growing hops in the United States is concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. California’s hop cultivation totals a mere 130 acres.
When harvest time rolls around, even on a half-acre farm, Mark needs plenty of help. Harvesting is the most labor-intensive activity on a hop farm and buying automated harvesting equipment costing well over $200,000 isn’t an option. “I just try to get family and friends and make a day out of it,” says Mark. “It’s pretty fun, hanging around and talking and picking hops and you definitely get some sticky fingers at the end.”
The bright green hops vines are fragile plants, disintegrating quickly and becoming unusable just hours after being picked. Virtually all hops used commercially are quickly dried to prevent spoilage, which removes some of the aromatics and flavor characteristics. Each fall Mark rushes his hops to the brewery, dropping them into the brew kettle within three hours to create a “fresh hop” IPA. Fresh hop beers, made with undried or “wet” hops, often possess a unique fresh menthol or spicy character from the more volatile oils and aromas not found with dried hops.
That’s not the only part that is green at New World Ales’ Hop Ranch. Spent hops and grains from the brewing process and plant mulch are recycled as feed for a variety of animals on the ranch. Plus green-bottling processes like gravity-fed brewing and bottling are incorporated to make this an environmentally conscious operation.
This year’s version of New World Ales’ fresh hop will be called “The Fresh Hop—Haze of The Bay” and Mark describes it as “having some Cluster, Crystal and Newport hops varieties all grown at the local hop yard. These will provide some unique spice and floral notes to this year’s version.” He adds, “You certainly get the local terroir through them!” Hop to it!
To get a full taste of New World Ales’ tribute to tradition and their South Bay fresh hops revival, explore their latest releases at NewWorldAles.com.
