Kent celebrates Annual Hops ‘n’ Harvest Festival This Weekend
Maidstone, Kent – September 8, 2025 – KentLife Heritage Farm Park is set to host its annual Hops ‘n’ Harvest Family Festival this Saturday, September 13th adn Sunday, September 14th, celebrating the vital role of hops in brewing and the autumn harvest season.
Hops, the flowers of the hop plant, are a key ingredient in beer production, contributing bitterness, aroma, and acting as a natural preservative. The brewing process begins with malting – soaking, germinating, and drying barley (or other grains) to create fermentable sugars. these sugars are extracted thru mashing, where crushed malted grains are mixed with hot water to create “wort.”
Hops are added during the wort boiling stage; early additions provide bitterness, while later additions contribute aroma and flavor. Once cooled, yeast is added to ferment the sugars, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. The resulting beer is then conditioned, filtered, carbonated, and packaged.The festival offers a chance to appreciate the history and variety of beer, acknowledging hops as a crucial element in balancing sweetness and imparting unique character to each brew.
Visitors to Maidstone attending the festival are encouraged to utilize the Fremlin Walk Car Park. Monthly season permits are available for £95.00 and can be booked online at https://www.sabaparking.co.uk/en/car-park/fremlin-walk-car-park or via the Saba You-Go-To Parking app.
Further details about the Hops ‘n’ Harvest Family Festival can be found at https://kentlife.org.uk/event/hops-n-harvest-family-festival.
