When Rick Courcy retired, he wanted to get out of the city and so moved his family from Masschusetts to Oxford County, Maine, known as the “Gemstone Capital of Maine.” He settled on a 90-acre farm in Paris, with a view of Mount Washington.

Mount Washington (along with Mount Madison) seen from the Appalachian Trail.

Courcy was whiling away his time watching television while still trying to figure out what unique crop to grow when he saw a beer ad and was hit by inspiration. So he hopped up and planted organic hops, built the requisite trellises and has spoken to area brewers who are interested in using locally grown hops. He’s called his hop farm Paris View Farm. According to John Harker from Maine’s Department of Agriculture, Courcy is now the only commercial hop grower in the state.

Now that’s great news. I don’t think I realized hops would grow in Maine’s climate but according to Harker, “hops used to be grown in nearly every farmer’s backyard.” I always thought the reason spruce and other plants were common as a hop substitute throughout New England was because hops wouldn’t easily grow there. Oh well, maybe it’s global warming.

UPDATE 7/25: Brendan from Beerdata.org did a really nice more in-depth piece on this story last week.