Hawksbill Jim
@hawksbill.bsky.social
USAF Cold War vet. Five years in Berlin, where I learned to love beer. I’ll sometimes post about my brewery in Luray, Virginia!
We voted and Virginia friends you need to get your ass on down there and vote too. (Reward was a cold pint afterwards)
October 25, 2025 at 7:58 PM
We voted and Virginia friends you need to get your ass on down there and vote too. (Reward was a cold pint afterwards)
Nobody’s talking about those goddam Epstein files now, are they?
October 23, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Nobody’s talking about those goddam Epstein files now, are they?
I’m sorry but one side is voting for a gun, not the woman.
October 16, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I’m sorry but one side is voting for a gun, not the woman.
🧵17/x By late July the hops were in their final stages of growth and we started preparing for the harvest. The Cascades performed best and the photos feature them, one from our first year and two from the second. We still had a few tasks to take care of before we could pick them, that’s next.
July 30, 2025 at 11:07 AM
🧵17/x By late July the hops were in their final stages of growth and we started preparing for the harvest. The Cascades performed best and the photos feature them, one from our first year and two from the second. We still had a few tasks to take care of before we could pick them, that’s next.
🧵16/x Pen Druid’s Sperryville grand opening was a week after their hopyard visit, so I went over to check it out. Their traditional terroir driven approach to fermentation was inspired by European travels. 10 years later their brewery is still one of the coolest in Virginia.
July 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
🧵16/x Pen Druid’s Sperryville grand opening was a week after their hopyard visit, so I went over to check it out. Their traditional terroir driven approach to fermentation was inspired by European travels. 10 years later their brewery is still one of the coolest in Virginia.
🧵15/X our hops farm was attracting interest from Virginia brewers, so we decided to do an open house event. The Carney brothers at Pen Druid came over from Sperryville along with Tin Cannon from Gainesville. We hosted them one Saturday morning, showing of our cascades!
July 22, 2025 at 10:19 AM
🧵15/X our hops farm was attracting interest from Virginia brewers, so we decided to do an open house event. The Carney brothers at Pen Druid came over from Sperryville along with Tin Cannon from Gainesville. We hosted them one Saturday morning, showing of our cascades!
🧵14/x Hops branch sideways after Solstice and not long afterwards, burrs appear that will flesh out into the cones/flowers we’ll use in beer. Our best growers were Cascade and Chinook, shown here. Our Goldings never took off and the others would need a year or two before producing.
July 21, 2025 at 10:17 AM
🧵14/x Hops branch sideways after Solstice and not long afterwards, burrs appear that will flesh out into the cones/flowers we’ll use in beer. Our best growers were Cascade and Chinook, shown here. Our Goldings never took off and the others would need a year or two before producing.
🧵13/x Hops have an amazing growth cycle.Until the solstice, they’re focused on vertical growth, racing to the top of the trellis. The next day is shorter by 3 minutes and the plants start pushing out side branches where the cones will eventually grow. Here are some views just after the solstice.
July 18, 2025 at 10:49 AM
🧵13/x Hops have an amazing growth cycle.Until the solstice, they’re focused on vertical growth, racing to the top of the trellis. The next day is shorter by 3 minutes and the plants start pushing out side branches where the cones will eventually grow. Here are some views just after the solstice.
🧵12/X Our hops were racing up the trellis, paced by the Cascade and Chinook bines, which had been specially developed for the North American terroir. These plants are programmed to grow vertically until the summer solstice. Ours reached the 14-foot top line of the trellis in early June.
June 19, 2025 at 11:16 AM
🧵12/X Our hops were racing up the trellis, paced by the Cascade and Chinook bines, which had been specially developed for the North American terroir. These plants are programmed to grow vertically until the summer solstice. Ours reached the 14-foot top line of the trellis in early June.
🧵11/x The farm where we had the hops also had 11 bee hives for the produce area. We planted two rows of buckwheat to get them through the spring and also as a cover crop to protect from weeds in those sections, mostly the chinook bines.
June 17, 2025 at 11:25 AM
🧵11/x The farm where we had the hops also had 11 bee hives for the produce area. We planted two rows of buckwheat to get them through the spring and also as a cover crop to protect from weeds in those sections, mostly the chinook bines.
🧵10/X with the hopyard strung, we watched these amazing plants begin to climb the terrace. Mature plants can grow 8-10inches per day and our newbies were no slackers. As they climbed they wrapped themselves around the coir ropes for support.
June 16, 2025 at 10:54 AM
🧵10/X with the hopyard strung, we watched these amazing plants begin to climb the terrace. Mature plants can grow 8-10inches per day and our newbies were no slackers. As they climbed they wrapped themselves around the coir ropes for support.
🧵9/X with the little hop plants getting started, we needed to string them, using specially-coir twine that would support their vertical growth. We bootstrapped an approach for this after watching some YouTubes.
June 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
🧵9/X with the little hop plants getting started, we needed to string them, using specially-coir twine that would support their vertical growth. We bootstrapped an approach for this after watching some YouTubes.
🧵8/x The first sprouts were the Cascade and Chinook plants; not surprising because they were developed and bred for a variety of US climates. The others, especially the Goldings - I had high hopes for them - really struggled. These plants were already up and at em just a week into it!
May 23, 2025 at 5:40 PM
🧵8/x The first sprouts were the Cascade and Chinook plants; not surprising because they were developed and bred for a variety of US climates. The others, especially the Goldings - I had high hopes for them - really struggled. These plants were already up and at em just a week into it!
🧵7/x Here are a few more photos of the planting event. David was my farm partner and now is the brewer at Hawksbill, while Dan had 20 hop bines in his backyard and was the inspiration for our farm. It was a busy morning that warmed up quickly after the speeches at celebrations!
May 21, 2025 at 11:30 AM
🧵7/x Here are a few more photos of the planting event. David was my farm partner and now is the brewer at Hawksbill, while Dan had 20 hop bines in his backyard and was the inspiration for our farm. It was a busy morning that warmed up quickly after the speeches at celebrations!
🧵6/X Finally we were ready to plant. We had 20 or so volunteers out for donuts and Sierra Nevada beer and we set to work. We needed to plant 800 hop bines so we started at around 10am and finished by noon.
May 19, 2025 at 10:16 AM
🧵6/X Finally we were ready to plant. We had 20 or so volunteers out for donuts and Sierra Nevada beer and we set to work. We needed to plant 800 hop bines so we started at around 10am and finished by noon.
🧵5/X Trellis constructed, Hawksbill Hopyards was ready for planting. While we’d planned an event for this, we needed to order rhizomes: Cascade, Chinook, Goldings, Fuggles, and Centennial. We also hosted a tour for Va Tech’s Ag Extension…at the time we were the second largest hopyard in Virginia!
May 18, 2025 at 3:07 PM
🧵5/X Trellis constructed, Hawksbill Hopyards was ready for planting. While we’d planned an event for this, we needed to order rhizomes: Cascade, Chinook, Goldings, Fuggles, and Centennial. We also hosted a tour for Va Tech’s Ag Extension…at the time we were the second largest hopyard in Virginia!
🧵4/X a couple more trellis construction photos, including me rolling out airplane cable and the guys ratcheting the tension in the overhead matrix. Last one was a colorized photo with a view of the Hawksbill hopyard we used as an ad sent out to all the new craft breweries in Virginia.
May 17, 2025 at 6:33 PM
🧵4/X a couple more trellis construction photos, including me rolling out airplane cable and the guys ratcheting the tension in the overhead matrix. Last one was a colorized photo with a view of the Hawksbill hopyard we used as an ad sent out to all the new craft breweries in Virginia.
🧵3/X Our hopyard’s trellis design came from U of Vermont’s ag extension program. We mounted a matrix of airplane cable in posts that would stand 14-feet above the ground - amazingly, hop bines grow that fast every season!
May 16, 2025 at 11:35 AM
🧵3/X Our hopyard’s trellis design came from U of Vermont’s ag extension program. We mounted a matrix of airplane cable in posts that would stand 14-feet above the ground - amazingly, hop bines grow that fast every season!
🧵2/X We decided to start Hawksbill Hopyards on a one-acre plot carved out of an old cornfield. Disused for more than 20-years, we had to clear the ground, which took about a week. We borrowed a retired Cat ‘dozer for this and burned off all the scrub trees we cleared.
May 14, 2025 at 11:01 AM
🧵2/X We decided to start Hawksbill Hopyards on a one-acre plot carved out of an old cornfield. Disused for more than 20-years, we had to clear the ground, which took about a week. We borrowed a retired Cat ‘dozer for this and burned off all the scrub trees we cleared.
🧵Brewery Origins 1/x Hawksbill Brewing in Luray started as a hop farm - after growing hops for local home brewers we decided to start a hopyard farm to supply the emerging Virginia craft beer scene. The photo is from one of the local Cascade gardens we started as we began the project.
May 13, 2025 at 11:56 AM
🧵Brewery Origins 1/x Hawksbill Brewing in Luray started as a hop farm - after growing hops for local home brewers we decided to start a hopyard farm to supply the emerging Virginia craft beer scene. The photo is from one of the local Cascade gardens we started as we began the project.