Hogs Back celebrates hop harvest and 25th birthday

We hosted a double celebration at our brewery recently, marking our third annual hop harvest and our 25^th birthday with a one-day festival attended by more than 1,000 local residents, families, friends and members of the Tongham TEA Club. Guests gathered in the sunshine for a fun-filled day of live music, Morris dancing, children’s entertainment, freshly-cooked food and of course Hogs Back beers, including Green TEA – a version of our flagship ale, made with fresh Surrey Fuggles hops from this year’s harvest. At the party, Hogs Back managing director Rupert Thompson also announced our support for Macmillan Cancer Support for 2017/18, presenting them with a cheque for £10,000. We'll aim to raise at least £10,000 more for the charity over the next 12 months. The second donation of £7,500 to Mind, the company’s charity of the year in 2016/17, was also announced. Thompson said, “Our Hop Harvest party is always a fantastic event and this year’s was no exception; the sun shone all day, the beer, food and food and entertainment all went down a treat and everyone had a wonderful time. “This celebration was extra-special as we were also marking our 25^th birthday, so we were delighted to welcome so many people who have supported Hogs Back over the years and contributed to the brewery’s success. We wouldn’t have reached this great milestone in the company’s history without the enthusiasm and loyalty of many local customers, so it was great to thank them with our biggest-ever party.” He added, “We are pleased with our hop harvest this year, and we look forward to tasting Home Harvest Ale, the beer brewed using only hops from our garden, later this year.” The local community was much in evidence at the festival, with performances from the Yateley Morris men, folk band The Nefarious Picaroons; popular Motown and funk band The Fever; hard hitting rockers The Outcast Band; popular Hogs Back Brewery regulars Don't Fret and, headlining the event, The Flying Wright Brothers. We live streamed some of the acts on Facebook - visit the Hogs Back Facebook page to view them. Younger visitors were kept happy in the Kids Zone with bouncy castle, face painting and The Rock and Pop Foundation music tent, where they could play instruments and ‘bandeoke’. Several local businesses and groups were also involved in making the event a success. Barbecue Chef cooked hundreds of locally-made Alf Turners burgers and sausages, and Stromboli brought an Italian theme to the day with their mouth-watering made-to-order wood-fired pizza. The stage was kindly donated by Hi Speed Services and Hedgehogs capably built and took down marquees. A group from Farnham Round Table helped out, volunteers from SamFest welcomed everyone on the gate and the 4^th Farnham (Tongham) Scouts directed cars and manned the Kids Zone. Hogs Back will be celebrating its hop harvest again in 2018, with more bars, more beers, a bigger Kids Zone and of course great music. So why not save the date now – Saturday 22^nd September 2018.

HOP HARVEST PARTY GALLERY 2017

We also welcomed Tom Cann and Jack McNally from The University of Creative Arts in Farnham to join the fun and interview Rupert at the Harvest Party and they created this fantastic video of the day.