Hoosick Grange News

Hoosick Grange met on Wednesday, April 14. It was Hop Night. One hundred years ago, hops were picked by hand, a very social event. Going to the hop would have been a fan event. Marion Brenenstuhl introduced Gary Brown and Peter Martin. Gary owns Brown Brewery of Troy, NY. Peter is in charge of production. They told us how they grow hops locally. If you see some of these crazy fences, it could be hops growing. Hoosick grown hops taste different than others. A lot of hops come from the states of Washington and Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. There used to be a lot of hops grown in central New York and Cooperstown. Back in 1920 they had a fungus that killed plants.
Hops are grown from roots or plants. They can last up to 20 years, and deer don’t like them. They can grow a foot a day and as high as 18 feet. It takes three years for a plant to grow before harvest. The hop vine grows up poles or a type of twine. At harvest time in August they cut the vine down to the ground. On the vines are little green cones which have to be picked off. These cones are bitter to the taste. They can use them in beer then or dry them and use them later.
They told us how they make beer using hot water and grain, barley or corn and rice and yeast and hops. They have big vats that they use for this. They make 25 different kinds of beer. They use the leftovers as mash for cattle. They will give tours if interested. Marion thanked them. Everyone enjoyed the program.
After the program the Grange had refreshments which David Cornell provided. They had a short business meeting and discussed the Masonic Dinner on Saturday. Our next Meeting is on April 28, and Marion Cipperly is in charge of program and refreshments.