WILMINGTON — You’ve got a local brewer, brewing a local beer, made from local hops and local grains. That dollar is staying within state lines.
Last month, Wrightsville Beach Brewery introduced its first all-North Carolina beer.
A heaping of fresh hops from Papa’s Hops’ Zeus strain out of Reidsville, grain from Epiphany Craft Malt out of Durham and head brewer Kevin Zelnio’s magic touch; the Carolina Harvest Ale was born.
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“Nobody’s done Carolina Harvest Ale, which is perfect because we used all North Carolina grain and all North Carolina hops,” said owner Jud Watkins. “You get that malt up front and then you get that nice hoppy finish but it’s not smacking you one way or the other.”
This year, the Wilmington market has taken up 50 percent of Papa’s Hops’ inaugural Carolina crop.
At least four brewers in town are experimenting with the Carolina hops, with Waterman’s Brewing Company and Wrightsville Beach Brewery leading the way.
“Look how in North Carolina, almost nobody’s doing fresh hops,” Watkins said. “So that’s what’s fun about it.”
State dollars
North Carolina isn’t exactly regarded as a hop haven, but that’s not stopping people from flowering fields historically dominated by tobacco and cotton.
“The crude side of it, I think people underestimate, is that it keeps the dollars within the state,” Watkins said.
“So that’s to me, one of the biggest things about craft beer is you’re not sending a dollar of the four to five bucks you spend on a pint to a corporate office, to shareholders. You’re keeping it within the state. You’re keeping it within the local community,” he said.
Don Pullins, one of two “papas” that make up Papa’s Hops, has completely sold out of his 2017 harvest. In another month, he estimates he’ll sell out of his 2018 harvest too; a harvest that hasn’t even bloomed yet.
“Where these guys set themselves apart was they showed us the tech sheets,” Watkins said of Papa’s Hops. “Kevin and I love to nerd out on this stuff. We were like, ‘OK, we can work with this.’”
“You can only do so much off just the human nose. It’s one of those things where you really do need that lab analysis.”
From scientist to farmer
A career as a research biologist formed the foundation for Pullins’ ultimate transition to the crop in retirement.
“It’s a crop I had no familiarity with,” he confessed. “A friend of mine, he asked me, ‘Are you handling this retirement thing, Don?’”
“I think I found a passion. I’m going to start raising hops,” Pullins answered.
He put an acre of land in Reidsville to the test; it’s now climbing with four strains of hops.
“They’re a perennial crop. Once you plant them they’re like a grape vine,” he said.
Hop “bines”, similar to vines, are essentially climbing, flowering plants. If tended to, bines will flower for 30 to 40 years.
As a freshman farmer, Pullins says you’re not supposed to start paying the bills until your third or fourth year.
“We had a surprising year one,” he said. “Part of that comes from my biology background.”
“My wife says I did everything but pet them and sing to them,” he said. “I spent a lot of time in the hop yard. It takes a lot of care and love to produce.”
So what’s it like to drink a beer made from your hops?
“Rewarding, makes you proud, makes you want to do better,” he said.
Carolina in my bine
Nearly sold out of a harvest that hasn’t seen the sun, Pullins credits the success of his hops to premium quality and the North Carolina factor.
“People are enjoying the North Carolina option,” he said. “It’s the local mentality and having a face to deal with other than a mouse and a screen and clicking. There’s still some value to face to face. Jud can look me in my eyes, I tell him I’m going to give him quality, he can take that to the bank.”
Pullins describes himself as somewhat of a niche supplier. Papa’s Hops are vacuum sealed, dry, full hops.
“A lot of breweries use just pelletized hops,” he said.
In most large-scale commercial breweries, hops in pellet form are the go-to.
“These guys can slice open this bag and see exactly what they’re getting from Papa’s Hops,” Pullins said. “Pelletized hops you can hide some things in them. They don’t have to be as clean.”
Whole hops are reserved for veteran brewers; by only offering the full cones, Pullins inevitably filters out novice breweries from experimenting with his product.
“Most people that can brew with whole-cone hops have a little more knowledge, background, and more diverse training than just pouring in so many pounds of pellets,” he said.
Take for instance, the household name brewery Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. They solely use whole cone hops because “that’s their approach to brewing, they’re kind of purists,” Pullins said.
In the state’s great brewery boom, Pullins only wants to partner with breweries he sees as providing high quality, premium brews to the Wilmington area on a long-term basis.
“Someone like Jud is a longterm player.”
Papa and Goliath
Like many successful industries, consumers are bombarded with the illusion of choice when it comes to selecting a product. Pull off the mask, and it’s revealed that many top craft brews and hops suppliers are getting bought out by a few, select big players.
When word hits that one of the big dogs buys up one of the little guys, it’s tough news to get behind.
“It bums me out to hear that,” Watkins said. “It basically means that there’s only going to be a handful of players in the world that are going to have access to it.”
For Watkins, investing in local distributors in a sea of giants is a simple means of keeping creativity afloat.
“Just from a creative content generation side, are two people or 200 people going to come up with something cooler and more creative in that scenario?”
At least in Wilmington, creativity is still in bloom.
For more information on Papa’s Hops and their 2018/2019 harvest, its website can be accessed at https://papashopsnc.com/.
Johanna Ferebee can be reached at johanna@localvoicemedia.com or @j__ferebee on Twitter
