MEMBERS of Hogs Back Brewery’s ‘Tongham TEA Club’ braved the unseasonal weather to help with ‘hop twiddling’ in the hop garden adjacent to the brewery during the last week of April.

Hop twiddling is an essential task that always takes place at this time of year, to encourage healthy growth of the hop plants – or bines - and a good crop at harvest time in September. 

Essentially, it involves winding the hop plants, that are just starting to grow, around strings that are pegged into the ground and attached to the top of hop poles. The hops grow up these, to create the familiar tall, leafy rows by late summer.

The TEA Club team was briefed by hop estate manager Matthew King, who said: “This is a busy time in the hop garden as we start to see the hop plants growing after many barren months. 

“Earlier this month we were cutting back the first hop shoots – necessary to ensure the plants grow strongly –  and now we’re moving into the growing season.”

The tips of the hop shoots – also called ‘poor man’s asparagus’ – were offered to local pub company Red Mist Leisure, which ran a competition for their chefs to create a dish using them.

The winner, a Hop Smørrebrød created by Jay Williams, head chef at The Duke of Cambridge in Tilford, went on sale in the pub over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The Hogs Back Brewery hop garden is the largest brewery-owned hop garden in the UK. Originally planted in 2014, the three- and-a-half-acre garden grows three varieties of hops, including Fuggles, Cascade, and the rare Farnham White Bine.