The UK hop harvest is one of the highlights of the year for our Southern UK Sales Manager Jethro Holman. Read just why – and how you can get involved yourselves this year – below.
For the last few years, we’ve been running an exciting green hop project with our pals from Hukins Hops down in Kent. As a proud Kentish son, this is a real passion project for me, as I’ve got fond memories of my dad trying all the green hop beers and speaking passionately about them when I used to be allowed to go to the pub or CAMRA festival with the grownups.
Our author Jethro at his happiest, standing in a hop field in Kent.
Brewers Using Fresh UK Hops
Our green hop delivery project with Hukins has grown year on year, with some amazing beers emerging from the likes of Cloudwater, Beak, Left Handed Giant, Burnt Mill, Only With Love, Whitstable Oyster, Exale, and many more. Everyone involved always has a lot of fun, and it’s something really different for breweries to market out of the ordinary day-to-day core range or even ‘regular’ specials lineup, and as an added bonus, consumers love the beers and concept. Everyone’s a winner. We’re always looking for new breweries to get involved, so if you think this might be up your street, read on for the full details of what to expect from the 2026 UK Green Hop Harvest.
Glenn Whatman from Hukins Hops directs Jon Lloyd (then at Only With Love Brewery) to add hops to the kiln room floor for drying.
UK Fresh Hop Delivery
As we’re now on our third year of this adventure, we’ve got a pretty good system locked in. Throughout harvest, we’ll be collecting fresh hops at Hukins Hops on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and arranging overnight, pre 10am delivery to brewers the next day. So, you should have fresh hops with you in under 24 hours on a Wednesday or Friday ready to brew with straightaway. And we really would recommend you get those hops straight into a brew, because fresh hops fade fast, and freshest is always the best(est).
Brewing With UK Fresh Green Hops
As we’ve mentioned, keeping your approach flexible is key when working with fresh green hops, as is making sure they go into the brew as quickly as possible. Please keep in mind you’ll need to organise your recipe to match using ‘wet’ hops – be that hopping rate, or just how you use your kit. Wet hops will perform slightly differently to conventional Leaf Hops or T90 hops, but that’s part of the fun! The minimum quantity of hops we’re able to package is 5kg, and we work in 5kg increments. On a very, very rough level, we’d estimate around a 5:1 ratio of wet fresh green hop to ‘dried’ hops, with a (again very loose) suggestion of usage at around 5-6kg of wet hops per BBL (Brewers Barrel).
Only With Love Brewer Sam Bennett adds Challenger fresh hops to the brew for their special fresh hop harvest beer.
UK Fresh Hop Harvesting Dates
Mother nature is beholden to no man or woman, but we are due to start hop harvesting in Kent on the first week of September. We’ll continue harvesting throughout the month, and we’ll be offering our fresh hop service on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the first three weeks of September. So, here’s the dates you need for your diary and brew schedule:
- Pick date Tuesday September 1st – Arrives for brew date Wednesday September 2nd
- Pick date Thursday September 3rd – Arrives for brew date Friday September 4th
- Pick date Tuesday September 8th (Jethro on site to tour) – Brew date Wednesday September 9th
- Pick date Thursday September 10th (Jethro on site to tour) – Brew date Friday September 11th
- Pick date Tuesday September 15th – Brew date Wednesday September 16th
- Pick date Thursday September 17th – Brew date Friday September 18th
Jez Matthews from Dorking Brewery with his hop garland of Challenger fresh hops from Hukins Hops.
UK Fresh Hop Varieties
Given the fast-paced nature of harvest, we’re not able to offer specific variety selection, it’s a ‘you get what’s being picked on that afternoon’ scenario because that’s how we guarantee absolute quality and freshness. We like to think that the ‘random hop variety lucky dip’ is all part of the fun of harvest. Down on the farm the hops and the conditions decide when it’s prime time for hop picking, and it can be the case that the hops ripen around gardens at different rates, so it’s hard to predict as the month goes on. We’re a small cog in a much bigger machine here, so a set green hop pick date works much better than sitting around waiting for any specific variety, and posting out as and when available. This technique means you can schedule your brew day accordingly, knowing you’ll do a fresh hop brew on a specific day. You’ll be told on the day what variety is arriving with you, as well as a general variety guide for expected specs, although given freshness of hops, COA will not be provided as you’re receiving hops before there’s even time to send them to the lab for analysis.
The below list shows the traditional order in which we tend to pick UK hop varieties for harvest, and the general number of days it takes to pick based on acreage on the Hukins Hops farm. This is not fixed, so there are no guarantees on variety, but generally Fuggle and Goldings are ready to harvest first, and we work our way down the hops.
- Fuggle- 6 Days
- Goldings- 4 Days
- Challenger- 6 Days
- Bullion- 2 Days
- Ernest- 2 Days
- Cascade- 2 Days
Sometimes we move faster or slower depending on the weather, or processing (how the line does etc.) – there are so many variables. Hopefully this list gives you an idea, but we do stress there is no holding or guarantee of variety – just enjoy nature’s randomness!
UK Hop Farm Tours
If you’d like to make a real event of UK Hop Harvest, you can head down to Hukins in Kent to collect your fresh hops yourself (visiting also has the benefit of saving you on your delivery costs). Dates available to collect your hops are the same as the pick days listed below. I’ll be down on the farm on the 8th and 10th of September, so if you time your visit on these dates, I can offer a tour of the hop fields and the opportunity to see the hop processing facility while it’s in full swing. It’s a real sensory experience with all the sights, sounds, and smells. Right next door to Hukins Hops is McCanns Brewery which is a beautiful brewery and taproom if you fancy having a pint.
There are some great content opportunities if you do choose to visit and bring your marketing team – think lots of nice photos and videos of hops coming off the bine, and through the picker to create a great narrative for story for your beer release – just like Paul from Cloudwater did last year.
If there are a few of you travelling over on the 8th or the 10th of September, I’ll be open to any fun ideas of group activities – if feasible and we’re not in the way of Hukins team who will be grafting away – just drop me a line at jethro@brewersselect.com if you’d like to think of bigger plans. There’s camping opportunities, a nearby steam train, and a host of local pubs to visit, The Garden of England really does have many treats to offer!
Paul Jones & Mel Dyson from Cloudwater in the Hukins Hops Kiln Room.
How to Order Fresh UK Green Hops
If you’d like to get involved in a fresh green hop beer this year, you can place your orders through us by emailing dale@brewersselect.com. Fresh green hops are priced £11/kg regardless of variety, we’ll ship direct from Hukins with shipping priced at standard rate per weight ordered, all invoiced as per your credit terms with us. If you’d like some more advice on brewing with fresh hops, chat to your sales manager, and they’d be more than happy to help. If you’re not familiar with Hukins Hops, they are our UK hop partner and grow and produce some of the finest UK hops out there. We’re so proud to represent them and to call them pals. We stock a range of UK hops from Hukins Hops in T90 pellets year-round on spot and can also contract if you fancy. This is a rare opportunity to brew a special beer, and really connect with your brewing ingredients. It’s really as good as it gets in the UK for English hop sensory, a hands-on touch and feel with fresh green hops in picked minutes before. Don’t miss out!
Will Green of Whitstable Oyster Brewing brewed a fresh hopped Challenger ESB using fresh hops from Hukins Hops.