Port Hope Visitor Guide 2019

BRANDON BICKLE
BICKLE FARM VALLEY HOPS
3054 MCCLELLAND RD.
Are you a craft beer fan? Yes, I started home brewing seven
years ago. It’s super interesting and I love to experiment. I did
a ginger cream ale that I sent to the 2015 Ontario Homebrew
Competition and got third!
“Now I supply hops to local breweries
and home brew shops.”
You’re the only hops farmer in town? I canvased about 30 breweries to see what kind of
hops they used. I’m on the road a lot as a buyer for Canadian Tire, so I had the idea to ask
my dad if I could a test of 160 plants on our family farm. He said ‘you’re nuts,’ but we did it.
Claim to fame? I stumbled upon a hop when I was visiting a friend in Campbellford. It
was growing in the ditch and I thought, what’s that weird plant? Holy crap! It’s an Arthur hop
that no one else has. It’s one of the five varieties I grow. Now I supply hops to local breweries
and home brew shops. We’re also a stop on the Craft Brew Trail if you want to see the farm.
Best part of farming? Spending time in the field with my dad. We string up coconut fibre
string on a trellis, and train the hop shoots to grow three per string. They can get 20-feet tall. It
looks like a vineyard on steroids.
STEPHEN DINES
FALCON BREWING IN AJAX
COMING SOON TO PORT HOPE
Why bring Falcon beer to Port Hope? The community
aspect. It’s a great small town with a huge brewing history. And
all the business owners we’ve talked to about coming have
been wonderful to us. Port Hope is a foodie town, so we’re
going to focus on the beer and sell some pretzels, beer-infused
pies and cheese, and hope to partner with some restaurants
to bring in their pizza and burgers. We’re going to use some of
Brandon Bickle’s hops. We’re also planning to have live music, a second-floor event space
and a rooftop patio.
Supporting local is a focus? We want to be part of the community. The architect we’re
working with is Reno Piccini in Port Hope. We’re going to do a Float Your Fanny beer for the
Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny river race.
What’s Falcon known for? We’ve got four mainstays and the other six rotate every
10 days—lagers and stouts to IPAs. The big new beer is sour beer, so they’re tart and nice
for summer. We’ve got a passionfruit guava sour that’s really good.
So you’re a beer drinker? When you look at me you can tell. I’m a big guy. I’ve always
liked craft beer. They’ve got lots of flavour. Every day you can enjoy a different one.
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