by The Summit Land Conservancy and Park City’s Wasatch Brew Pub teamed up to harvest wild hops around Park City, Utah, in August, culminating with a party in October to sample the beer made from these wild hops.
On August 18, a group met to look for hops between Park City and the Judge mine to the south. This particular hike was a recon hike to check for hop, which would be harvested in a couple of weeks. Along the way, starting at the top of Prospect Avenue (which was one steep road!), on the Prospect Trail, we passed several old cars that had been abandoned many years before. We also passed several closed mines, including the American Flag Mine, the Masschusette Mine and the Judge Mining and Smelting Company Offices.
About 10 days later, some of us returned to the Judge Mine area to collect the hops and take them down to the Wasatch Brewery, where we joing a group removing the hops from the vines. Some hops had been harvested in the days before, and were being separated while we were collecting more.
When finished, we had collected almost 400 pounds of hops! It was all turned over to Wasatch Brewing.
On October 6, we joined “Hoppy Hour”, at Wasatch Brew Pub, to sample the beer they named Clothing Hoptional, made from wild hops. It was mighty tasty and worth the effort. Hoppy Hour was also a fund raising evening for the Land Conservancy.
