Bines make beer. Vines make wine.

Our son Joseph planted hops this summer. The underground hop root system is perennial, but the annual bines are are not. These are not Joe’s bines. He got a small harvest this first year: enough to make 1 beer–which he did. I am not joking.

These bines I found covering a STOP sign in Minneapolis this morning. The hops are too old to make beer with (according to son Joseph), so they are currently in my dehydrator as an experiment. By the way, you can thank Joseph Hoffman for the title factoid: “BINES MAKE BEER. VINES MAKE WINE.” Hopes are a bine, of course.

hops bine seed cone strobiles ( Humulus lupulus)