Cheers! Kent's Green Hop Beer Fortnight, which celebrates the county's hop crop in its purest form, has begun.

It’s the fourth year brewers and their devotees across the county have come together to celebrate Kent’s hops in their most fresh form.

The fortnight, which runs from Friday, September 25, celebrates green hop beer which is beer brewed from hops before they are dried - and they have to be picked and brewed within 12 hours.

Almost every brewery in Kent is making at least one green hop beer, while some have made several. More than 20 breweries are involved and each brewer will be creating their own recipe.

As brewing it is a race against time, it's appropriate that micro brewers at the Musket Brewery, near Maidstone, have called theirs Flash in the Pan.

Normally, hops are dried first, but advocates of green hop beer believe it produces a distinctive flavour to use them before that.

Tony Williams, from the brewery in Linton, who collected hops from Tony Redsell's farm in Faversham, said: “If you leave it too long, they go a bit limp and can go mouldy. This is also about celebrating the harvest. It’s unique to Kent.”

The fortnight is launched at the Canterbury Food and Drink Festival. Among the green hops tipples available during the fortnight are Shepherd Neame’s Green Hop Ale, brewed by the Faversham brewery every year specially.

LET'S CELEBRATE

There are a range of events being put on during the fortnight where you can try some Kentish brews.

The West Kent Green Hop Beer Festival, which runs from Friday, October 2, to Sunday, October 4, will be at the Poacher and Partridge pub in Heartlake Road, Tudeley.

Special green hop beers will also feature at Broadstairs Food and Drink Festival also from Friday October 2 to Sunday October 4.

As part of the green hop celebrations, five breweries in east Kent have arranged to open their doors to the public on Saturday, October 10 for tours, music, food and plenty of Kent green hop beers. A special bus service will be available to transport visitors from brewery to brewery.

You can wave a final farewell to the hop season at the Spa Valley Railway for the fifth CAMRA Real Ale and Cider Festival and Autumn Diesel Gala from Friday, October 23 to Sunday, October 25.

BREWERS AND SUPPORTERS

Lots of breweries across the county and big organisations are getting behind the fortnight.

They include: Attwell's Brewery, Canterbury Ales, Caveman, Abode Hotel in Canterbury, Essentially Hops, Gadds' Ramsgate Brewery, Goachers, Goody Ales, Hop Fuzz Brewery, Hukins Hops, Kent Brewery, Larkins Brewery, Mad Cat Brewery, Musket Brewery, Nelson Brewery, Old Dairy Brewrey, Pig & Porter, Ripple Steam Brewery, Shepherd Neame, Simply Hops, Spencer's Brewery, Swan on the Green, the Foundry Pub, Time and Tide Brewing, Tonbridge Brewery, Tonbridge Winemakees, Wantsum Brewery, Westerham Brewery Co and Whitstable Brewery as well as organisations including the British Hop Association and Cask Ale Week.

For more on Canterbury Food and Drink Festival click here