Worthy Hop House and Hop Yard

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Roger Worthington with Al Haunold
The hops we love simply didn’t spring from the ground sua sponte. Well, going back in time, as in the Old Testament days, they sort of did. Putting that aside, the hop varieties we like to brew with sprung from the brain of an inventor, an inventor we honor and cherish. His name is Dr. Alfred Haunold.

Dr. Haunold, from 1968 through the late 1990s, gave the American public 23 varieties of hops which he cooked up, crossed, tested, perfected and released while serving as the USDA Hopmeister.

It is therefore our honor and privilege to help continue his sterling legacy by dedicating the greenhouse we will use to Dr. Haunold.  Stay tuned for the official dedication.

In addition, late this year Worthy Brewing will break ground on our very own Hop Yard.  With the help of our friends at Oregon State University, we will be planting a number of exotic, ornamental varieties as well as a few of the craft beer workhorse varieties.  We will be wrking with Coleman Farms in Hubbard, Oregon, to implant and anchor the poles and string the cabling.

As we plan to bring a hop farm and research greenhouse to East Bend, we are mindful of the movies Fitzcarraldo and Mosquito Coast. In Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, a maniac went all in to deliver opera to the natives in the jungle. In Peter Weir’s Mosquito Coast, Harrison Ford’s eccentric and hellbent character decided his life’s work was to bring ice to the natives.

Worthy’s not exactly nuts, but we are mindful of the challenges of growing hops on solid basalt in a terroir best suited for sagebrush, juniper, Indian paintbrush, fescue and pronghorns. 

The yard will eventually be open to the public and tours of the Hop House will be offered so that you can learn more about why you love beer. You’ll have a chance to learn the role hops play in the flavor and aroma of beer, as well as the inspired genius required to create and cultivate new hop varieties. We might even let you in on a few “top secret” projects, after signing all the non-disclosure documents first. 

Got a green thumb? Shoot us a line if you’d be interested in getting your hands dirty in the pursuit of hop wisdom.  We’ll provide the yard, the hophouse and of course the beer.  


Worthy Hop House 

We will dedicate the Worthy Hop House to the People's Hopmeister, Dr. Al   Haunold, on April 5, 2013, also the date of our grand opening. By then, we will   also have built our hopyard trellis system. We have sourced the hop poles from Goschie Farms and Dr. Shaun Townsend of Oregon State has been instrumental in advising us on the design and function of the hopyard. By the way, the wood for the raised beds has been treated with Wolmanized Copper Azole, an agent which our experts have assured poses no risks to the quality and safety of our herbs, vegetables or hops.