Grow a beer garden for truly homemade beer

It's mid-April, and that means that homebrewers around Colorado are probably lazily toying with the idea of growing their own backyard hops. What would be cooler, after all, than growing your own ingredients for the beer you make in your basement? The only thing cooler? An entire Beer Garden --...

By Jonathan Shikes

April 16, 2010

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

It's mid-April, and that means that homebrewers around Colorado are probably lazily toying with the idea of growing their own backyard hops. What would be cooler, after all, than growing your own ingredients for the beer you make in your basement?

The only thing cooler? An entire Beer Garden -- no, not the kind with a tent and tables that they have at Oktoberfest. I'm talking hops, barley, maybe some coriander for a Belgian white or pumpkins for a little fall harvest concoction.

How to get started. Well, you can buy hops rhizomes (that's what hops grow from) right now from the Brew Hut, 15108 East Hampden Avenue in Aurora, and from a variety of mail-order places online.

Or, you could check out this Beer Garden kit (pictured) from Fat Brain Toys. Cheers.

KEEP WESTWORD FREE... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.