Hops in a Box....Its all about the flavour

Those nice chaps at Meantime Brewing are an inventive lot and their latest initiative is a winner in my books.  They are distributing free boxes of hop seeds with everything you need to grow your own hops and to remind drinkers what's in their beer and how it got its flavour.

Britain has a thriving community of artisan food producers and specialist brewers who are passionate about their products. Yet I am amazed at the number of people I know who opt for the bland and tasteless without a thought as to how their produce has got to them.  From intensively reared and cellophane wrapped chicken breast, mild rubbery cheddar and those mass produced so called lagers which will remain nameless that dominate the supermarket shelves.  So its good to see someone going a step further and taking the time to explain what it takes to put the flavour into the end product.

Hops in a Box from Meantime Brewing

You can pick up a box from Waitrose or a number of other outlets that serve Meantime beer.  For more information on the initiative and to so where you can pick up your own Hops in a Box go to their website

meantimebrewing.com/news-events/news/hops-in-a-box/

 or search the hashtag #hopsinabox on twitter. 

There should be a local near you where you can pick one up.  I picked up my box from the Clarence in Dover Street which is a Nicholson pub that always has a decent and ever changing selection of beers to choose from. You can see from the pictures that they are currently serving a number of good hoppy ales on sale including Jaipur which is a classic example of an Indian Pale Ale and VPA from Vale Brewery which is a golden ale.



The Clarence: Plenty of choice

I have a twelve foot wall in my garden which is currently covered in ivy and the idea of replacing that with a crop of hops is appealing.  The aim for the hops themselves is to end up in my home brew but as a novice brewer I'll need to get a bit of advice first.

On another note its good to see that the Chancellor has taken heed of the damage the beer escalator has been doing to the pub trade and scrapped it.  I know that some drinkers are still moaning about the minimal impact it will have on their pockets but it is an important concession and will stop adding to the future costs of a pint.

Even if the reduction is not passed on to us as consumers it does give the trade a bit of breathing room to cope with other costs, such as fuel for transport, that have also gone up and impact of bulk beer production will mean a greater benefit to them.