mlive; When Sean Trowbridge breaks the seal on the latched door to a walk-in freezer storing bags of varying sizes, a hoppy blast slaps you in the nostrils.
The aroma is wheaty, flowery and distinct to Top Hops Farm in Atlas Township, a commercial hops farm that's looking to grow in 2015 and build relationships with local brewers and capitalizing on the industry's growth in the state.
"My parents and I we were kind of interested in trying to find something that would work here on the farm, as far as farming produce," he said of the 55 acres purchased a few years back by his father Mark Trowbridge, a retired engineer.
"With the way the craft beer industry had been going, we'd already been growing crops for a couple of years and we just visited some other hop farms in Michigan to get an idea of what it's really like," said Sean.
"We started out with a few plants next to the corn crib out here," Mark Trowbridge said. "Sean went out and bought some rhizomes off of Craigslist and put them in. They actually took off and grew quite well. I think that helped to motivate us to take the next step."
Sean Trowbridge said he grew 10 to 15 plants on the side, eventually moving to a trial yard of around 200 "When we were really serious about looking at commercial production" and planted five and a half acres in spring 2013.
Witnessing the craft beer industry flourish, he said, "We decided we'd commit to putting in a commercial amount of hops that would be substantial enough that the brewers could use it and that there could be a supply year-round and not just a couple brews." ..more mlive
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