English hop farm supplier

[djbadger]

Just came across this farm selling direct by post 100g packs of 2014 harvest English hops.
Prices look OK.

http://stocksfarm.net/shop/

Cheers

[brewnaboinne]

Photos look nice, but dear compared to the worcester hop shop.

[legion]

They may be expensive but at least they are fresh. Will be a while till WHS has any UK 2014 hops in stock...

[Belter]

I can't buy from these guys out of principle.

Their business statement line is "we feel
homebrewers get a raw deal"

They then charge twice the price when you're buying from source which if they weren't giving brewers a raw deal would be less than TMM WHS etc.

They don't even list the alpha %

[Patterd Ale]

That's extortionate, tossers probably see them as an "artisanal" product. Picked by grandpa jethro, packed in a brown paper bag fashioned from brother cleetus's desiccated faeces. Sickening that these skinny trousered bum fluff adorned, self indulgent ignorant hoors have now turned to hops.
As has been said, why go further than Malt Miller and WHS?

[Jocky]

I think calling them 'tossers' is unfair.

Stocks Farm are a big supplier of hops to the brewing industry, but almost certainly not set up to supply to home brewers normally. There is a chance that they've packaged these straight out of drying, which would give you the best hops possible and possibly make them worth the extra price.

Home brew shops tend to buy a 5kg+ bale of hops and split it down into individual bags, and the bag you buy could have come from the edge of the bale and have been exposed to a lot of air/moisture etc in the mean time.

So it's possible that price might justify a superior product to the home brew shops. Or maybe they've massively misjudged the market.

[Jackthehat]

Did I hear right, that there are only about 60 hop farms left in the UK? Obviously, it is a difficult market to be in and you can't blame them for looking for new markets with higher margins.

Had Patterd Ale been supping when he wrote that?

The freshness and provenance may justify the price for some. Personally, I think that they have gone too high on price and that it would be good to offer 250g/500g options too.

[Belter]

Just to back Pattered Ale up here, we aren't talking a slightly higher margin for a fresher product. We are talking twice the price and no listed AA content. We should be paying less or the same from source for a 'fresher' product. I think you'd struggle to tell the difference. The only good thing is that you can get them sooner.

[Patterd Ale]

"Supping"! How dare you, swines. I wish that I was. My new job sees me asleep by 10 with no supping required. That bile was au naturel. I stand by my previous abusive statement.

[Eadweard]

Did I hear right, that there are only about 60 hop farms left in the UK? Obviously, it is a difficult market to be in and you can't blame them for looking for new markets with higher margins.

60 is an over estimate

[Clibit]

Surely anyone growing hops in the UK should be applauded, not called tossers. They are a very rare breed now. It's not a millionaire's game. The price is not ridiculous, and the hops are 2014. Not available elsewhere.

[Hanglow]

They are cheaper than my local HBS

They won;t have AA as they probably can't afford/have yet to send their hops of for analysis

I suspect they have a contract with a hop wholesaler who takes a certain weight off them on contract, this year they have an excess and are trying to sell them to homebrewers


to be fair to them they do offer free shipping over £15


perhaps a few friendly emails to them suggesting that they are a tad pricey may be a better alternative than calling them a bunch of wanks?

[scuppeteer]

They are cheaper than my local HBS

They won;t have AA as they probably can't afford/have yet to send their hops of for analysis

I suspect they have a contract with a hop wholesaler who takes a certain weight off them on contract, this year they have an excess and are trying to sell them to homebrewers


to be fair to them they do offer free shipping over £15


perhaps a few friendly emails to them suggesting that they are a tad pricey may be a better alternative than calling them a bunch of wanks?

Couple of pointers here.

You need to find another HBS.

All growers will have their AA% analysed by the merchant they deal with. In this case most likely Farams as they are 8 miles away from the farm. The only variety they may struggle to sell will be the Sovereign. But I know Marstons love them for some reason.

All growers are under contracts for years at a time otherwise they wouldn't grow at all. You're correct they may have a surplus but this is being sold through the back door hence the price. I cannot believe that varieties such as Endeavour, Jester and Bramling X have not all been sold already.

I took a sample of a semi wild hop to my local merchant and had the results back the next day.

They state they are one of the largest growers in the country and on that basis one of the richest. Hop farmers are a tight bunch

[Hanglow]

Fair play, I was just putting my own thoughts on


however

My other local hbs is in edinburgh ( 45 miles away) and they are no cheaper. So While I love maltmiller and WHS, both whom I order from regularly, I can't find a local homebrew store who are close.

[Hanglow]

Very drunk tbf so might be staggeringly wrong :toppa: