Story of our Fresh Hop IPA

Brewing an IPA with fresh hops requires tight planning, but not everything always goes smoothly... Even before we drove into Germany to score hops, we were unlucky twice.

First, some colleagues dropped out, so Niels (our retail chief) suddenly had to jump in to arrange the fresh hops. He threw his entire schedule around and made sure everything was ready on time. Legend!

The bus we had booked? That one suddenly gave up after a ride to Rock City. Not a disaster, as we were going to Germany together with Rock City and Van de Streek. But those fresh hops had to get to Amsterdam within 24 hours. Time to come up with a plan B(us)!

Wednesday evening Niels had finally checked into Germany, schnitzel on the table, ready for the next day's hop harvest. Prost!

Niels stond diep in de ochtend, samen met de vrienden van Rock City en Van de Streek, in de hopvelden. Het was tijd om te plukken en te selecteren. 130 kilo aan Amarillo en Calista hoppen moeten naar onze brouwerij. Handen uit de mouwen en aan de slag!

It's go time! With screeching tyres, Niels and the hops leave for the Netherlands, where brewer Vasillas is waiting with another (working!) bus.