Cullercoats Brewery has teamed up with Wilde Farm in Ponteland for the sixth annual release of their green hop beer, Wilde North Blonde. We went hop picking on the farm to hear more about the project and meet the people involved.
So…what is green hop beer?
You’re probably used to seeing photos from breweries showing dried leaves or hop pellets being poured out of huge foil bags to go into their brews. Green hops (sometimes referred to as wet hops) take things back to be as fresh as they come. The hops are picked from the bine during harvest time and used immediately (ideally within 24 hours).
Using green hops instead of packaged options can create beers with different aromas and flavours, but adjustments need to be made during the brewing process to compensate for the additional moisture in the hop cones.
Wilde Farm
Wilde Farm is a 12.5-acre family-run smallholding in Ponteland, set up by Dave and Kim Wilde back in 2016. As well as growing hops, the farm is also home to rare British breeds and is a hub for delicious produce such as free-range eggs, and fruit and vegetables (grown using organic principles). Supplying many iconic North East restaurants such as Träkol, Dobson & Parnell, and Route, the farm is an integral part of the local food scene.
The hop harvest
Harvest time might conjure up images of dropping canned goods off at school for the harvest festival, with hymns sung in the hall, complete with spectacular centrepieces fashioned out of sheaves of corn. But the importance of the relationship between farmers and brewers is also something that should be celebrated in the same way that grains, fruit, and vegetables are.
The hop harvest at Wilde Farm this year was their sixth in connection with Cullercoats Brewery, and their biggest so far. The hop plants were originally grown by Dave and Kim at their home, and now take up residence in a corner of one of the fields on their farm, where they’ve been left to grow as they please. With the help of family and friends (and a call out on social media), a small team gathered on a fresh September morning to grab a bucket and set about picking the 26 kilos of hops that were then picked up by Bill from Cullercoats Brewery to be used in the beer.
Many thanks to Kim for a delicious lunch to keep us going throughout the day, and to everyone we met. We thoroughly enjoyed taking time out from staring at screens all day to spend a few hours picking hops in the sunshine – check Wilde Farm’s socials in August/September next year if you’d like to help with the 2023 harvest.
Cullercoats Brewery
(Photo credit: Cullercoats Brewery)
Established in 2011 and based on the North East coast, Cullercoats is a family-run brewery, owned by Bill and Anna Scantlebury. They use all English ingredients and their unique yeast strain to create a range of award-winning cask and bottle conditioned beers, including the delicious Royal Sovereign Barley Wine which was featured in our very first Books ‘n’ Beer Pairings.
(Photo credit: Cullercoats Brewery)
The beer
Wilde North Blonde is a 3.8% blonde beer containing a mixture of Bramling Cross and Fuggle hops. It’s available now in cask, with bottle-conditioned 500ml bottles on their way to Hazy Daze (Whitley Bay) and other bottle shops from 17th October. As with all Cullercoats Brewery beers, 3p per pint is donated to the RNLI lifeboats appeal, with over £60,000 raised so far.
Time to launch
Look out for casks of Wilde North Blonde in selected North East pubs this month, including Enigma Tap (North Shields), Microbus (Gateshead), Pont Tap (Ponteland), The Blackbird (Ponteland), The Carriage (Jesmond), The Railway Hotel (Hebdon Bridge), The Ship Inn (Ouseburn), The Station House (Durham), and The Sun Hotel (Warkworth). Check with your local bottle shop to see if they’ll be stocking bottles of this one, or buy online via Cullercoats Brewery’s webshop.
There is a special event being held tonight at The Central Bar in Gateshead, with Tyneside & Northumberland’s CAMRA branch hosting an evening of seasonal drinking, featuring a cask of the beer.
Drink fresh. Seek out some green hop beers this month, and let us know what you find!
Learn more about Wilde Farm over on their social media:
Discover more about Cullercoats Brewery and buy bottles online when they go on sale later this month: