Pittsburgh has 90 different neighborhoods. Imagine if each neighborhood had its own beer? That’s what we are trying to do: Bring the communities, neighborhoods, and the breweries together.

Hops On Lots Pittsburgh (HOLP) is project that brings together communities and local breweries through urban agriculture. Created by three guys; Pete, Joe, & Jonny, we are using our years of experience in gardening and beer tasting to think outside the box. Our project plans to grow hops in a way that not only benefits the local communities financially and aesthetically, but also benefit Pittsburgh area breweries and brewers by supplying locally-sourced hops.

The HOLP team has been working hard on our two projects this summer; the YMCA in Hazelwood (15 plants) and the retaining wall in Stanton Heights (78 plants). So far this season, the hops have grown well beyond our expectations. At the YMCA location 80% of the plants have sprouted and over at the wall in Stanton Heights we have 75% of the plants sprouted.

We are also excited about the harvest coming up this fall and what will happen with the hops. We are in the midst of planning release events at both locations. Full Pint Brewery and Spoonwood Brewery will be brewing a beer with the YMCA hops and we are excited that Roundabout Brewery will be using our hops grown in Stanton Heights.

The HOLP team has also been working behind the scenes to develop a couple of projects for next season that will allow us to help more communities in and around Pittsburgh.

Check out a story about us by Next Pittsburgh:
http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/eatdrink/hops-lots-betters-communities-beer/