MaltBlog

Critz Farms' Hop House

Critz Farms' amazing business was the place for the October meeting of the Greater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce. Hosts Matthew and Juanita Critz provided a fascinating glimpse of life on their farm and in their business.

Among the amazing things we learned were the many businesses in which Critz Farms is involved, the full-time and part-time staffs they employ, and the record-setting weekend they just had (over 4,000 visitors Saturday and 2,500 on Sunday!).

But -- we are here to talk beer. Critz Farms has a new hop house, modeled after the historic hop barns and kilns found throughout Madison County. Host Matthew Critz explained us that the structure is a faithful recreation of a pyramidal hop kiln used for drying and packaging picked hops. (For more information about hop farming in New York and elsewhere, check out http://www.upstatechunk.com/beer/photos/index.htm).

The building features two sections. The main building is the kiln area, a two-story structure. The square first story is finished with drywall and hardwood floors; a classic kiln would have plaster walls and a fire would be lit to dry the hops, which were laid on the slatted floor of the second story. The pyramidal second story has just a portion with slats open to the first floor (a real kiln would have the entire floor exposed). Matthew Critz explained that hop flowers were laid out on giant linen cloths and dried by the fire below. After about two days the fire would be replaced with burning brimstone to bleach and preserve the hops.

The other part of the structure is the area where the hops were moved to cool before being bagged in linen bags. The second floor of this area is open to the pyramidal second floor of the kiln, so that the dried hops could simply be pushed from one side to the other. Here the hops would be pressed and dropped through a trap door into waiting transportation.

Matthew explained that Cazenovia was an ideal location for hops production because of its location on rail lines and the proximity of the Chenango and Erie Canals. In the 20 years that the region was known for hops production, the area between Cooperstown and Cazenovia produced about 80% of domestically-grown hops, and even exported hops to Europe when there were crop problems there.

Critz Farms now uses the Hop House as a snack bar, and will allow use for private functions. It is also the final destination on Madison County's historic hop barns tour. The Critzes intend to grow hops on the property as well.

The Critzes have built an incredible business here. Like so many other small business owners I have met in Cazenovia, they are down-to-earth, hardworking, and friendly. The Hop House is a terrific complement to their "agritainment" business and I hope they have continued success. Posted by jimj at October 15, 2003 01:30 PM | TrackBack