Meilenhofen Hop-farming in the Hallertau

This weekend I enjoyed an afternoon spent at one of Agriculture's most wonderful of gifts to human social advancement: A hop farm!

The farm is located in the mega-famous Hallertau Region, which is the area that lies between the Rivers Isar and the Danube, in central Bavaria. Landshut, where I live, is located just south of this region, so getting there is a small matter of a few minutes in the car. Specifically, this hop-farm was located just outside the village of Meilenhofen, near Mainburg.

We were hosted by the very knowledgeable and affable Hans who operates the hop farm.

Photo: Hans, our guide around the farm

Hans cultivates/grows (at least) two main types of hop, the early flowering "Hallertauer Perle" and the more common "Magnum". We had the opportunity to see these varieties side-by-side. The Perle already in Bud and the Magnum still flowering.

Photo: Perle variety with buds

A friend who has just completed his Masters in Biology, Stox, a man who appreciates all things a-growing, was with me for the visit (as well as our two girlfriends). Fortunately, Stox was able to ask all the questions being both a native speaker and a biologist, whilst I flittered about taking photos and enjoying the general glorious ambiance of the place - exhibiting my general ignorance of the rural life, looking like a proper townie and tourist at the same time. 

Photo: Stox asking all the right questions of Hans

Hops from this immediate area find their way into both the local smaller beers such as the Hohentanner brews (I recently tried an excellent beer from the Hallertauer which I reviewed here,). The local hops also find their way into some of the main Bavarian Beers for consumption in the cities, or sometimes in tacky Bavarian-beer themed pubs abroad. The Hallertau is considered to have the greatest concentration of Hops grown per Km2 in the world, however I have no method of verifying this claim.

Without rambling on too much, I decided to complete this blog with a series of photos taken during the visit. If you are ever in the Hallertau area, try to get yourself an invitation to visit a hop farm. On a sunny weekend it it well worth your time.