Chris Sartori looks over his field of hops in the Columbia Valley above Cultus Lake.

ItB次元官网网址檚 been a good year for hops, and they are glowing yellowy-green in the September sunshine. ItB次元官网网址檚 harvest time at the Sartori Hop Ranch, and the small crew is about halfway through the two-week harvest cycle.

B次元官网网址淚 think we have a real good product and thatB次元官网网址檚 the main thing,B次元官网网址� Sartori said.

The local farmer has been growing hops for the last 15 years. The hops field covers maybe 12 acres on his 160-acre farm located at Lindell Beach, a historic farming community within the Columbia Valley.

Sartori produced two main varieties of hops this year: magnum and nugget.

In early September is when they harvest the hop flowers off B次元官网网址渂ines,B次元官网网址� which are the long, flexible stems that hops grow on B次元官网网址� not vines. They harvest them by hand. Then theyB次元官网网址檙e fed into a machine that Sartori brought over from Germany. The hops are then set out to dry in a special attic drying area, before baling and pelletizing.

Sartori gets help from his brother at harvest time, as well as his daughter and son during the year, but he said they pretty much get all the work is done every season with the help of only a few workers.

ItB次元官网网址檚 always been a tad challenging growing in the rolling hills of Columbia Valley, Sartori said, as opposed to down on the lush valley floor of the Fraser Valley, but he has farmed there for 40 years.

First it was livestock B次元官网网址� beef, and pork B次元官网网址� for a quarter-century, then hops.

B次元官网网址淭here was an opportunity to get into hops and I took it,B次元官网网址� Sartori said.

HeB次元官网网址檚 chuffed about the reliable quality of his product.

Hops is the main ingredient in beer that gives it that signature bitter flavour, especially with craft beer like IPA where itB次元官网网址檚 certainly a case of the hoppier the better.

Hops was once the dominant crop in Chilliwack and it brought seasonal work for thousands who would travel to the area at harvest time. By the 1990s that was just a memory, but starting in the mid-2000s hops were growing in Chilliwack again.

The Sartori hops are used by several B.C. breweries, including Molson Coors, as well as craft beer producers.

But Sartori says there are other uses for the sticky, aromatic cones other than beer.

B次元官网网址淵ou can make a kind of chocolate with it,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淥r tea. ItB次元官网网址檚 good for the stomach or sleeping.B次元官网网址�

But a hops farm and a brewery are a match made in heaven

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 kind of neat to be such a small operation in the bush and to get acknowledged by Molson,B次元官网网址� Sartori said, remembering the early days of his business relationship with Molson Coors.

B次元官网网址淚t was excellent. They gave us help when we started. They would buy everything we produced.B次元官网网址�

In fact, Molson Coors hops buyers were purchasing high-quality Sartori hops before they even built the big new brewery in Chilliwack, and were still based in Vancouver. And they still are today.

B次元官网网址淟ocal hops cultivated in the province have been an essential ingredient in the brewing of Canadian beers for more than 125 years,B次元官网网址� according to a statement from Molson Coors about Sartori hops.

B次元官网网址淏.C. has excellent growing conditions, which makes our current partnership with Sartori Hop Ranch very important to preserve the taste of our iconic beers.

B次元官网网址淲e are proud to use them to make our beers here B次元官网网址� and all across Canada.B次元官网网址�

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