Let's go to the hops: The micro-brewery boom is making hops an attractive proposition for this farmer
Craft brewer Simon Lynch from Wicklow Wolf. Photo: Alan Rowlette
At the turn of this century, the farming of hops - used by brewers to give beer aroma, bitterness and flavour - had almost died out. But the current boom in microbrewing enterprises keen to reduce their reliance on hop imports and sell their customers a wholly Irish beer means hop growing is on the brink of a comeback.
The number of production microbreweries in Ireland jumped to 62 last year from 48 in 2015 and has quadrupled since 2012, according to a report published in 2016 for the Independent Craft Brewers of Ireland and Bord Bia.
