NEW ROSS - Two years ago the owner of Garrison Brewing Company stumbled upon some wild hops growing at Ross Farm.

 Shortly thereafter a partnership was born. Ross Farm would grow hops for the brewery and reap the benefits of publicity.

 And "Three Fields Harvest Ale" was born.

 "We haven't really settled on a name yet," said Garrison's marketing co-ordinator, Meg Stewart. "But it will likely be something like that."

 That's because three farms (Ross Farm; Meander Farm, Ashdale, Nova Scotia; and Happy Hopyard Farm, Saint John, New Brunswick) were used to grow hops for the beer, which is expected to be ready by the end of September.

 The hops were harvested on August 31.

 "Even in the early stages it tastes pretty amazing," Ms Stewart said. "We haven't actually done this kind of brew before."

 This kind of brew is a wet hop beer. Traditionally beer is made from dry hops. There are several other wet hop beers available in Atlantic Canada, but most, if not all, are draught beers.

 "Daniel [Girard], our brewmaster, is pretty excited," she added. "He is over the moon. This is a very positive experiment."

 The folks at Ross Farm think so as well.

 "We're really pleased," said farm director Lisa Wolfe. "We really like this partnership. "We get a lot of questions about the hop yards. And we get a lot of interest from people who would like to grow their own hops."

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 It also fits in with the farm's motif.

 "It's really hard for us," Ms Wolfe said. "People don't always see the significance of living history. This shows some of the value of what we do. People say we're so far behind the times we're ahead of them."

 Last year root cuttings from 20 Willamette and 20 Cascade hops from Ridge-side Organics and Lazy Acres Hopyard farm in the Annapolis Valley were planted at the end of May.

 Normally, hops don't mature enough for harvesting before three growing seasons. But, this crop was ready after two.

 "It wasn't a huge crop [at Ross Farm], but it was a very good crop, an amazing crop," Ms Stewart said.

 In midsummer, hops can grow 12 inches in one day and up to 30 feet overall.

 "And these still have some growing to do," Ms Wolfe said. "I'm still learning, but the crop this year was much better than last year. And these are still immature plants."

 Brewing beer with dry hops (or green hops as they are also known) is tricky, Ms Stewart said.

 "The hops have to be used within 24 hours or else they start to rot from the inside out," she said. "As well, wet hop beer requires seven to 10 times more hops than a dry hop beer. That's why we need three farms."

 Not so long ago the world was struck with a hops shortage, causing the price of the key beer ingredient to increase four-fold.

 This forced the hand of smaller breweries such as Garrison and others to come up with a unique way to maintain their product line.

 The result, the company hopes, will eventually be a beer made with all local ingredients.

 "We're off to a good start," Ms Stewart said.

 Unfortunately for the people of New Ross the beer likely won't be available in liquor stores.

 The current batch is about 20 hL (hectolitres), which works out to 2,000 litres.

 "We have not determined distribution yet, but I'm guessing for the most part it will be available at the cold beer store at our brewery on Marginal Road," Ms Stewart said.

 So, can we expect a trip from New Rossers to Halifax to get in line for the beer they had a hand in?

 "Wouldn't that be something," Ms Wolfe laughed.

 Something indeed.

 Additional details about the beer, when available, will be publicized on the Garrison website (http://www.garrisonbrewing.com) or on the company's Facebook site.

posted on 09/07/10