The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Micheal Coons to be crowned Hop King
ONEIDA, N.Y. » The Madison County Hop Fest weekend Sept. 14-16 is a celebration of the past, present and prosperous future of the hop industry in Madison County and throughout New York state.
At the 23rd annual Madison County Hop Fest, there will be programs about hop culture in NYS; home brewing demonstrations; exhibits on the history of hops; exhibitor booths from hop suppliers, hop farmers, and beer clubs; paired beer dinner; Taste of Hops: a food and beer pairing; sampling of craft beer; and the crowning of 2018HopKingMichealW. Coons, head brewer at Morrisville State College’s Brewing Institute.
On Saturday, Sept. 15 on the grounds of the Madison County Historical Society at 10 a.m., featured guest speakers will present programs on hop culture, along with hop experts sharing their knowledge on brewing and growing hops.
Matthew Urtz, Madison County historian, will present “Brewed, Distilled & Rectified: A look at early alcohol production in Madison County,” in the Agricultural Barn at 10 a.m. Urtz’s programwill lookat early alcohol production including brewers/breweries and distillers/distilleries. Utilizing censuses (both regular and agricultural), newspaper clippings, personal letters and notes, Urtz will shed light on some of Madison County’s earliest alcohol producers, sharing what was made and where it wasmarketed.
Urtz will also speak about why these industries disappeared, the impact of Prohibition, and Madison County’s use of “fruit juice” permits during Prohibition. He will also briefly touch on how changes in laws over the last 10 years have helped promote aneweraof brewinganddistilling in Madison County.
Micheal W. Coons, head brewer at Morrisville State College’s Brewing Institute, will present his program “Morrisville State College Brew Institute,” in the Agricultural Barn at 10:30 a.m. Morrisville State College’s Brew Institute, located at the Copper Turret Restaurant in Morrisville, serves as a laboratory for students taking courses related to brewing science and technology. The coursework ranges from the scientific components of brewing, such as yeast propagation and quality control, to the business side, including filing permits and paperwork with the state and federal government anddeveloping programs for workplace safety.
Morrisville State College opened its brewery in the Fall of 2017, andits four year beer making degree in the Fall of 2018. The program will be one of at least seven brewing degree or certificate programs operating in Upstate NewYork. Studentswill earn a bachelor’s degree in food technology, with an emphasis on brewing science. In addition to supplying brewers to the brewing industry in New York and elsewhere, the Morrisville programalso has a special connectionwith two breweries inMadisonCounty - Empire Farm Brewery in Cazenovia and Good Nature FarmBrewery in Hamilton.
Assemblyman Bill Magee, 121st New York State Assembly District, chair of the NYS Assembly Committee on Agriculture, Madison County Hop King 2001, and continued supporter of theMadison County Historical Society’s efforts to preserve hop heritage, willmake comments on “NYS Assembly SupportHop and Beer Industry” in the Agricultural Barn at 11 a.m. Magee invited brewers, hop growers, andHop Fest volunteers to a meeting with Cornell University Rural Development at Morrisville State College in 2000. This initiative led to the formation of the Northeast Hop Alliance.
Magee has supported the Hop Fest since its beginning and helped fund the Madison County Historical Society hop exhibit in the carriage barn. He will make comments on the passage of the Use & Sales Tax exemption for breweries that sell samples of beer in their tasting rooms.
Sen. David Valesky, 53rd New York State Senatorial District, ranking member of Senate Committee on Agriculture, Madison County Hop King 2011 and continued supporter of theMadison County Historical Society’s efforts to preserve hop heritage, willmake comments on “NYS Senate Support of Hop andBeer Industry” in theAgricultural Barn at 11:15 a.m. Valeskywillmake comments on the passage of the Senate Use & Sales Tax exemption for breweries that sell samples of beer in their tasting rooms.
At 11:30 a.m. is the crowning of Hop King 2018 outside of the Taste ofHops tent. Come see the title of Hop King 2018 bestoweduponMicheal W. Coons, head brewer at Morrisville State College’s Brewing Institute in Morrisville. Coons recently ledMorrisville State College Brewing Institute at the 2018 U.S. Open College Beer Championship and won the title of Grand National Champion Brewing School in North America.
Stay for the Taste of Hops: a food and beer pairing from noon to 2 p.m., where area restaurants/caterers create an appetizer/dessert using craft beer as one of the main ingredients and then pair said appetizer/dessert with a craft beer. Each year the restaurants/caterers partake ina friendly competition vying for a variety of titles at the Taste of Hops judged by the public who sample their exquisite fare. Attendees receive a complimentary 5 oz. glass.
Participants must be 21plus years of age to sample the craft beer. This year seven restaurants will participate. Copper Turret of Morrisville will create a hop smoked and beer braised pork empanada with avocado jalapeno cream paired with Copper Turret Brew House’s Cherry Valley Coffee Oatmeal Stout. Empire Farm Brewery will prepare “slomo hopmac and cheese,” with hop infused breadcrumbs paired with Empire’s Slomo IPA. Hispstir Café ofOneidawill create “boujee bomb,” a stout cupcake with Guinness shards, Golden Blackberry filling and French Cocoa finish. Plate and Pallet of Morrisville, Hamilton Inn ofHamilton, Michael’s Fine Food and Spirts ofWaterville, andGilligan’s Ice Creamof Sherburne are also participating.
Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door. Only a 150 will be sold. Participants must be 21-plus years of age to sample the craft beer.
After the Taste of Hops will be craft beer sampling under the Craft Beer Tent from 2-5:30 p.m. Guests are invited to sample craft beer from more than 30 craft breweries, including Copper Turret Brew House; Foothill Hops Farm Brewery; Ommegang; Empire; Erie Canal Brewing; WT Brews; Four Mile Brewing; Good Nature; Middle Ages; Saranac; Seneca St. Pub; Magic Hat; Southern Tier; Brewdog; Collective Arts; Firestone Alesmith; Carlsburg; Schofferhofer; Radeberger; FourMile; DownEast; Narragansett; Sierra Nevada; Belhaven; Wa- chusett; Mighty Swell; Von Trapp; Social; Switchback; Ithaca; 1911 Hop Cider; Adirondack; Browns; Founders; Woodchuck Cider; Lake Placid; and Long Trail.
Representativeswill be on hand to answer all beer questions. Participants must be 21-plus years of age to sample the craft beer. Advance Craft Beer Sampling tickets are $30 or $35 at the door. Buy them ahead at the following locations: Kraig’s Kegs in Sherrill; MCHS; Empire Brewing Co. in Cazenovia; Copper Turret in Morrisville, or at www.madisoncountyhopfest.org.
Emily Zaengle, ARISE grants coordinator, will present “Silos Along Route 8 from Utica to Brookfield” in the Agricultural Barn at 2 p.m. Zaengle’s presentation features silos that she documented along Route 8 from Utica to South Brookfield. She will discuss the cultural and visual history of these structures and how they have become an indicator of a changing agricultural landscape. During the discussion, shewill encourage audience members to share their stories or experiences about silos in the rural landscape.
Drew Dunham, owner of a hop farminHamilton, will present “The new old age of hop farming and preservation in hop agriculture hop heritage preservation & restoration project for Madison County—HamiltonHopMission” intheAgriculturalBarn at 3 p.m. Over the past five years Dunham and his family have been restoring their family homestead. Three years ago, pursuant to Dunham’s passion and discoveries in the hop history, the family developed a one acre hop yard in an effort to reestablish the hop culture that once was in Hamilton and Poolville.
One year prior to the installation, Dunhambeganhis search for an authentic hand hewn hop house in Madison County. He found and purchased one of the oldest hop houses in the county and dismantled it beamby beam. In the future, the old hop house will be reconstructed, as it was, next to Dunham’s new hop yard in Poolville. Since then, Dunham has taken down five other historical New York barns to piece together into his aspiring giant double kiln hop house. Come listen to this passionate man speak about his local hop and family farm experiences.
Dot Willsey, former president of the Madison County Historical Society, initiator of Madison County Hop Fest 1996, hop royalty with husband Norm Dann in 2005, will present “Collecting Hop Heritage” in the Agricultural Barn at 3:45 p.m. The program will include images of hop houses in Madison County included in the 2006 Bicentennial Madison County Hop Trail, hop heritage sites included in the 2007 Madison County Historical Society Cultural Resources Survey, and hop collections items from England and the USA.
Carl Stearns, retired preservation architect, hop grower, hop house protector and mover, charter NEHA member, Madison County Hop King 2000, and member of the Bicentennial Architectural Trail Committee, will present his talk, “Central New York Rural Landscape” in the Agricultural Barn at 4:15 p.m. Stearns will share images and architectural descriptions of hop houses in Central New York that he has admired and studied for 30 years. As Duncan Hilchey stated in 2000 in his formative years of the Northeast Hop Alliance, this is the “only place on the planet” where one can see as many 19th century architectural remains of the 19th century American hop industry. Stearns has called hop houses architecturalmonuments of the rural landscape.
Dave King, president of BIER, Brewers in the Endicott Region, will present his program, “Home Brewing Beer” in the Agricultural Barn at 5 p.m. Join King for a lively discussion as he explains how you can easily make beer at home. Learn about the ingredients, process and ask questions about our favorite hobby. King started home brewing in 1995 and has been a member and often the president of BIER, Brewers In the Endicott Region, a Binghamton area homebrew club. He has judged and stewarded at many homebrew contests, and has taken a number of medals for his beers.
Throughout the afternoon, there will be brewing demonstrations byAmerican Home Brewers Association, BIER Club, exhibits on the history of hops, raffle drawings of beer-related merchandise, theHop Shopfilledwith NormDann’s hop plants and hop sterling jewelry, hop-related items.
The following exhibitor booths and a food vendor will be on site all afternoon: NeHA, Northern Foothill Hops, and Bueno Taco.
TheMadison CountyHop Fest weekend concludeswith aHeritageHop Tour on Sunday, Sept. 16. The tour will once again feature exemplary structures that demonstrate the four components of 19th century hop processing, as well as provide new sites of the county’s hop heritage. Thanks to gracious owners of these structures, visitors get to enter the hop houses, see the elements and tools, smell the hop aroma saved in the timbers, and hear the explanations of the processes
The tour will include many “windshield viewings” of other sites included in the 2006 BicentennialHopHeritage Trail and in the Cultural Resources Survey supported by a grant from the Preservation League of New York State in 2006. The coach tour will visit the first commercial 20th century hop yard and new 21st hop yards in Madison County.
The first stop will be an 1867 hop house that closely replicates the oast houses in the hop-growing region in Kent County, England. The coach will continue to travel south through the Stockbridge Valley, where there were several hop farms in the 1800s, with the next stop at Foothills Hops in Munnsville. Foothills owners Kate and Larry Fisher were early hop growers in the state and now are brewing craft beer. Larry will provide explanations of the hops being dried, packaged, and preserved, and Kate will welcome visitors to the brew shop.
The tour is not complete without a drive around the hamlet of Bouckville, where commercial hop growing was introduced to New York state in1808. APomeroy state sign identifies the fieldwhere James D. Coolidge planted those first hops, and that sign provides a popular photo option.
The tour lunch this year will be at GoodNature Farm Brewery. A tour behind the scenes in the brewery will be followed by luncheon with narration about the food and beverage pairing. Good Nature explains that a farm brewery is committed to sourcing the ingredients in their beers from New York state farmers. Good Nature goes a step further by sourcing locally as much as possible, and working directly with neighboring farms to source the freshest ingredients possible.
After lunch, the coach will transport visitors to a double pyramidal hop house, which received one of the first New York State Barn Grants in 2000 to help with its preservation. Madison County Historical Society volunteers and Cornell University preservation students provided temporary measures to assist protection until more permanent work could be accomplished. Another unusual hop house, which has been repaired and preserved with family resources and a NYS Barn Grant, will be opened for the hop tour with the owners sharing photos of the restoration.
The tour will once again stopat theCopperTurret restaurant and brewery, which serves, as of Fall semester 2018, as the laboratory for the State University of New York students taking courses related to brewing science and technology. Head brewerMichael Coons, who will have been crowned Hop King the day before at the Madison County Hop Fest, will host the tour group in the brew room. Empire Farm, another brewery in Madison County, will be a coach turnaround in order to provide persons unfamiliar with the impressive site. The 2018 Madison County Hop Fest kick-off paired dinner Friday, Sept. 14 will be held in the production roomat Empire.
The final visit of the Hop Fest tour will be at the Bineyard owned by Chad Meigs and Kate Braddock. Meigs will describe his hop farmdevelopment and demonstrate how his German Wolf hop harvester operates.
The tour starts at 9 a.m. at the Madison County Historical Society at 435 Main St. in the Carriage Barn, where the Bittersweet hop exhibit and the film“WhenHopWas King” will welcome preregistered guests. Dot Willsey, hop heritage promoter, and Carl Stearns, preservation architect, will guide the tour sharing Madison County’s proud hop heritage during the tour’s journey.
Tickets for the tour are $40. Reservation is required by Sept. 7. Lunch will be at Good Nature Farm Brewery. Attendees receive a complimentary 5 oz. glass. Close toed shoes are required to tour the breweries. The tour will start at 9 a.m. at the Madison County Historical Society and ends there at 5 p.m. The Heritage Hop Tour is made possible from the generous support from Hale Transportation Group.
There is no admission to attend the Hop Fest. There is an admission fee for the Craft Beer Sampling, Taste of Hops, Paired Beer Dinner, and Heritage Hop Tour. Formore information and to purchase tickets online, visit madisoncountyhopfest.org. Participants must be 21-plus years of age to sample the craft beer at the Fest.
The tradition of promoting the art of craft brewing and the influence of the hop industry on New York State continues at the Madison County Hop Fest. Proceeds from the Hop Fest support the educational programming at the Madison County Historical Society. TheMadison CountyHop Fest is made possible from the generous support from The Gorman Foundation, White’s Farm Supply, Assemblyman Bill Magee, OneidaDentalGroup, Oneida Daily Dispatch, Liberty Tabletop, Community Bank, Foothill Hops Farm Brewery, Hale Transportation, and Rentals to Go.