From Bonnie at Hop Head Farms:
On October 17th and 18th, Hop Head Farms is participating for the 4th year as a stop on the Arts and Eats tour. Arts and Eats is a free self-guided driving tour of Allegan, Barry and Kalamazoo Counties and surrounding rural region. See the map and 2015 brochure here: http://www.artsandeats.org/Map.pdf. It really gets people out exploring and visiting farms, artist workshops, bakeries, restaurants, and much more. We get about 300 people on average stopping to see us over the weekend. Each year I try to do a different educational piece about hops and beer. This year, I am inviting local home brewers to share their craft with our guests. I have mentioned this event to several of you already. Now it’s time to get people signed up! I’d like everything figured out by Oct 12th.
Here are the details. The event is from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm both Saturday October 17th and Sunday October 18th. We open the gates at 10:00 am, and usually have people waiting to get in and have to push people out at 5:00 when it is over! We would like to have the brewers arrive by 9:00 am to get set up. It may be beneficial to come on Friday to drop off your brewing kit, and other supplies. The event is set up “open house” style. We don’t do tours ,but have a few different areas set up for people to wander freely and gravitate towards what interests them the most. The Brewing Demo area will be the most popular this year, I am sure! I am hoping to get at least 3 groups of brewers to come out and share each day. More than that would be great! Hop Head Farms will provide the hops for the brew being made for the event, if it is something we have in stock. It is important to RSVP with a hop list and weights as soon as possible! We have Besco RO water available and Food Safe well water for brewing. If you require something else, please bring it. The brew area will most likely (depending on weather) will be out on our lawn. If the weather is not suitable, we will move things into our picking facility. Brewers are encouraged to bring beers for sampling and sharing, but remember this is a public family friendly event to educate the public about hops and brewing. We will have beer samples available as well. There will be food provided both days, but brewers are welcome to bring their own as well. We have a grill, and can plug in a crock pot or two. Homebrew clubs and shops are welcome to put out information about membership and store specials etc. Please bring lawn chairs and any tables you may need for your set up.
Be prepared to answer questions! Our guests come from all over, many do not know much about hops or beer. Anyone who would like to take part needs to RSVP to me -Bonnie Steinman (via email is best) bonnie@hopheadfarms.com. If by phone, please call our farm office -269-671-4439 and leave a message or let our office know it is for the ARTs and Eats brew day. The Deadline is OCTOBER 12th.
We need the following info: The brewer(s) names and homebrew club or group name. The beer style being made The weights and hop varietals needed for the beer. Please do this asap, to make sure we have what is needed! A contact for the point person in the brew group in the the case of any changes. A list of any additional requests or needs. It will be a really fun weekend for all of those involved. If you are not able to join us with your brew kit, please stop in to say “hi!” or/and check out some of the other stops on the tour. I have several maps available if you would like some to hand out. Let me know! We will have special pricing on hop pellets for the weekend as well.