Hops in the Bodie Hills

Bodie’s miners relaxed with a variety of beverages and there were (according to several sources) as many as 65 saloons in the business of satisfying their needs. Among the choices available to them were beers produced locally at several different breweries. In the 1880s there were (according to OldBreweries.com) at least 6 breweries operating in Bodie. Hops (Humulus lupulus) can be found growing today in sheltered locations outside several old houses in Bodie. Were these merely ornamental, or were some locally grown hops used to flavor locally produced beers? I’ve yet to find documentation that any locally grown hops were actually used by the breweries here, but the question is intriguing. It’s likely that hops for the breweries were of necessity imported from Carson Valley, Owens Valley, or even the Central Valley west of Sonora.

Humulus

Humulus lupulus growing in downtown Bodie

Hops are not native to the Bodie Hills, but there are varieties of hop that are apparently native to the American midwest and southwest. The kind cultivated here at Bodie and throughout much of the world for beer-making is the European or common hop, Humulus lupulus var. lupulus. Its relation to certain other intoxicating plants is indicated by its inclusion in the family Cannabaceae.

Bodie Club: Cold Beer

In the IOOF building

Licensed to sell Beer

A license to sell “legalized beverages”

Humulus

Another hops plant in Bodie (circa 1980)


Copyright © Tim Messick 2016. All rights reserved.
DOWNLOAD THE CHECKLIST

2 responses to “Hops in the Bodie Hills

  1. What is the name of these hops?
    Has anyone ever identified what type they are?
    Bittering / Aroma / Finishing

  2. Interesting question. I have no idea what type or variety these would be, and nothing about that came up in my internet searches.

Leave a Comment

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s