Good news has never been far away recently for independently owned Brook House Hops, a UK hop farm based in Herefordshire and launched to the brewing world in 2018.

After a successful first 18 months of trading and a positive annual hop walk in August, they recently invested over £100,000 into new equipment and are now expanding three fold by increasing their acreage into neighbouring Worcestershire.

The owner of Britain’s largest area of hop farm ‘Newnham’, called on the team to manage the farm which is just 15 miles north of their existing land and HQ in Bromyard, Herefordshire. The owner was considering turning the farmland from hops to asparagus as the English hop market is at times uncertain, due to the popularity of hop strains grown in America, New Zealand and parts of Europe.

Wanting to preserve the ancient tradition of UK hop growing as much as possible, Brook House took the land under their wing and began to sell the British grown hops directly to brewers.

With three sites now in the cooperative, Brook House Hops grow roughly an amazing 15% of all hops produced in the UK. And with UK hops rising in popularity across the world, this can only be a good thing for brewers and the industry – having an independent cooperative, offering the finest locally grown hops to put in their beers.

Yet the story does not end there. Adding 200 acres to their UK hop growing portfolio is just the beginning. In January 2020 Brook House intends to restore the early 1900s traditional farmhouse on site into compassionately designed offices and a showroom for customers, as well as invest in a large 1,000 square metre processing centre and cold store.