Discover the first hop plantation in the Curitiba region

A five-acre farm in the Araucaria region, less than an hour from Curitiba, is the first Mantiqueira hop planting area in Paraná. The first seedlings were sown in 2019 and, thanks to the persistence and curiosity of producer Josimar Cubis, have resulted in up to 300 kg of hops in natura and a unique input for local brewing production.

“Isn’t it the most beautiful thing to see?”, asks the producer, looking at the vines that climb the 5-meter-high platforms. And he should be really proud, after all, despite having rural roots, the field is not the main activity of Cubis, who works in the automotive sector. It was the desire to cultivate something different, easy to manage and profitable that made him return to the land and start the first hop plantation in the state.

learning from scratch

Cubis explains that the Mantiqueira hop was chosen because it is the only Brazilian species of the plant, developed to adapt to the climate and soil conditions here. However, as it is a plant that needs a lot of sun and water, growing it in the Curitiba region was a gamble, with no guarantee of success.

“I had to learn on my own, understand the needs of the plant on a day-to-day basis, because there was no previous experience in the state to guide me”.

On this journey, Cubis even learned the direction that the plant prefers to climb the guide line of the platforms. “In handling, the plant prefers to go up in a clockwise direction. And that, no book explains”, guarantees. The producer’s intimacy with the planting is such that he knows the time of harvest by the sound of the plants when the wind blows “It’s a little noise of dry paper”, he says.

the hops

The Cubis plantation is small, there are 400 feet in a space of approximately 1300 square meters. The plants take up to four years to reach the peak of production and quality. However, they produce for up to 40 years.

“The idea is not to increase planting, but to make the plants produce more. The goal is to reach one kilogram per foot, ”he explains.

In addition to the maturity of the plantation, Cubis depends on favorable climatic factors to achieve this productivity. “Plants need many hours of sun and just the right amount of humidity”, adds Cubis.

The luck of the producer is that the cold does not impact the plant, as hops hibernate in winter. In this way, low temperatures do not influence the harvest.

The beer

Currently, the entire production of the Cubis property is absorbed by local breweries. One of them is Kilden Bier Microcervejaria de Araucária. The owner, Carlos do Valle, has been buying the product from Cubis since the first harvest, in 2020. According to him, it is a hop with herbal and citric notes, which gives a refreshing touch to the final product.

“He is very capricious and well committed. He had difficulties in previous seasons and was discovering how to improve his performance. And this is reflected in the characteristics of the hops and the beers that use them.”

Carlos do Valle, owner and brewer of Kilden Bier Microcervejaria

According to the businessman, having a producer nearby is important for strengthening the local economy and craft beer culture. “We only sell in bars and parties here in the region and we almost don’t handle it”, he says. “An input from the region has a local flavor, they are unique products”, he adds.

The harvest

The hop harvest is carried out in the second half of March. The harvest window is short, it lasts 15 days and the process is entirely manual. If it passes the point, the product is unfit for use in breweries.

After removing the cones (as hop efflorescence is called), they go through a drying process in an oven, to then be packaged and sent to sale. “The difficulty is still for breweries to accept an exclusive input with limited and differentiated production”, comments Cubis.

The producer explains that the manufacturers, whether artisanal or industrial, are used to imported hops, which are pelleted. “They already know the manufacturing process with this input and are not always open to trying new things”, he adds.

Experience in the field

In 2020, Cubis held the first Araucaria hop harvest party. An event that was supposed to be small and surprising. “We had to run to handle so many people, but it showed that we have an audience interested in the experience”, he celebrates.

For this year, the 2nd edition of the event is being prepared. “We still don’t have a set date because it depends on the plant being ready to be harvested. The certainty is that it will be in the second half of March, ”he says.

@araucariahops