Cambridge Hop Heads harvest crop at Midsummer Common Orchard for Riverside brew
A team from Cambridge Hop Heads Home Brew Club, and volunteers from Friends of Midsummer Common (FoMC) met on Saturday for the annual Midsummer Common Orchard Hop Harvest after the recent summer sunshine meant the hop cones were ready to harvest.
The Cambridge hop harvest will be used for a Hop Heads homebrewing competition in November and, for the third year running, Calverley’s Brewery on nearby Hooper Street will brew a seasonal beer - last year it was California Common - with them.
“California Common is what’s known as an anchor steam lager,” says Robin. “It’s basically a lager but fermented with an ale yeast. It’s brewed at normal temperatures - it’s also known as a steam beer.”
California Common is sold at the pizza outlet at the Engineer’s House on Riverside.
Cambridge Hop Heads was founded by Robin Standring, owner of the Cam Home and Garden on Milton Road, and Will Deacon “about ten years ago”, says Will as he plucks more hops and drops them into bags along with fellow Hop Heads and volunteer pickers from FoMSC.
Tom Calverley, head brewer at Calverley’s, will craft the seasonal brew for sale in their tap room and at the Engineers House, on Riverside close to Midsummer Common.
The Midsummer Common Community Orchard is run by members of FoMC on a voluntary basis. The site contains more than 50 fruiting trees, wildflowers, and seating areas, with the hop - now bright green - growing along a huge brick wall near to Newmarket Road.
The volunteers - who help plant and care for trees and wildflowers, cut grass and clear weeds - have spent the last six months tending the hops, as Tim Hill of FoMC explained.
"Hops require a high attention to detail throughout the year, especially in the growing months,” says Tim, “and the team of volunteers have done an amazing job tending the hops, checking them weekly and clearing weeds that compete with the hops for moisture and nutrients. It was the best harvest of the three years I have been involved with this community project."
He adds: “An interesting fact is that the hops are close to the site of the historic Star Brewery, which was active from1822 to1971.”
Tim also brews a beer from the hops and takes part in a Hop Heads brewing competition every couple of months.
“We'll all brew different beers for the competition with these wet hops and it'll be judged by someone from FoMC and Calverley’s,” he says, adding of the day: “It was a lot of fun having so many hop picking helpers - and hard graft - but we got a load picked and delivered around 4kg of hops to Calverley’s and there’s enough for four of the Hop Heads to brew with.”
This year’s crop is expected to be on sale as California Common in October.
Volunteers at Midsummer Common Community Orchard meet every Sunday 10-12, details here. Cambridge Hop Heads meets between 4 and 6pm on the first Sunday of every month at Thirsty’s on Chesterton Road.
