Santa Fe Brewing Purchases 7.5-Acre Location In New Mexico For Hop Farming

After 2 years of hunting for the perfect location, Santa Fe Brewing purchased a plot of land in Rinconada, NM that will be the future location for growing their own hops. The 7.5 acre, Rio Grande riverfront property was purchased in September of this year from a local tree farmer.

The Santa Fe Brewing Hop Farm will be used to grow traditional hops such as Cascade as well as native varieties that will be used for limited edition beers. “The property is not large enough to source all of our hops but we are excited to be self sustainable for some of our beers”, said Brian Lock, president. “Our current plan is to use the hops for brewing wet hop beers. Wet hop beers use fresh hop flowers straight off the vine rather than the dried hops that are used in traditional beers. Using our own estate grown hops will set us apart from many other craft breweries.”

While the hop farm won’t yield a usable crop until fall of 2015, the farming process has already begun with the property being prepped for the planting of its first hop rhizomes this spring. “If we let the hops grow on the ground, flower, and then leave them to seep nutrients back into the roots, we will get much more production the following year,” remarked Lock.

The Santa Fe Brewing Hop Farm isn’t the brewery’s first step toward becoming more eco-friendly. In 2012, the brewery added solar panels that cover 25% of their energy usage. They also added aluminum cans in 2010 to their family of products lessoning their carbon footprint and allowing consumers to easily recycle their waste.

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