Champion Hop Announced for the IBD British Hop Competition 2022

The Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD) is pleased to announce that Hawkins Farming Ltd. has won the prestigious ‘Overall Champion’ award for their sample of Harlequin hop in the 2022 IBD British Hop Competition.

Sarah Hawkins, hop grower and owner of The Farm, Bosbury, near Ledbury in Herefordshire, and farm manager Matt Bailey received the award at the ceremony on Friday 13th January at Purecraft Bar & Kitchen in Birmingham.

The 2022 British Hop Competition, this year organised and judged by the IBD Midland Section, saw 176 hop samples entered from 49 growers. Despite some challenging growing conditions in 2022, the standard of entry was extremely good and the judges were pleased to see such a high level of presentation and pick quality across all six categories, which were judged back in November by an expert group of leading brewers. The ‘Overall Champion’ was announced from the six category winners at the Birmingham awards ceremony.

Sarah Hawkins, left, receives the award from Bhavya Mandanna, IBD President.

On receiving the award, Sarah Hawkins said, “We are over the moon to have won this award, it is such a fantastic achievement for all of us at The Farm and especially for Matt and his team who have put in an incredible amount of work in to produce these beautiful hops.”

Matt Bailey commented: “I am so proud to have won this award; we have made quite a few changes over the last few years to keep our hop quality up with the absolute best and this award is a real indication of the hard work and attention to detail that we have put in.

"To be honest, I am not surprised that the judges selected the Harlequin variety, when we are picking them during harvest the aromas coming from the kilns are just incredible; you can tell from a mile away that we are picking Harlequin!”

Flo Vialan, Head Brewer from Purity Brewing in Great Alne, Warwickshire had brewed a small batch of beer with the winning hops to celebrate the occasion and the beer was enjoyed by the brewers and growers attending the ceremony.