What could today's small-scale hop growers learn from their predecessors? Hop historian Al Bullard answers these questions by focusing on the handful of counties in Central New York that were the center of hop culture.

How did they do this? What were the methods and tools they used? And what were the external factors and mistakes made that caused New York to relinquish its leadership in this lucrative, but labor-intensive market? With the craft beer renaissance in New York now in full swing, the interest in growing hops commercially for craft and farm breweries has surged once again.

But the dominance of this market, which lasted for nearly six decades, was achieved by vast numbers of small, independent hop growers, for whom hops were only a part of their overall agricultural production. During that time, The Empire State was an agricultural powerhouse that produced almost 90% of the hop crop of the United States. In the 19th century, New York State experienced a 'Golden Age' of hop growing.

Golden State Hops farm