FAQs
You may apply for a credit account once you have been trading with us for a minimum of 12 months. To begin the application process, please contact us by phone or email to confirm your request, and we will guide you through the next steps.
Your contract will expire on the specified end date. For Northern Hemisphere contracts, this is 31 December, and for New Zealand contracts, 31 July.
After the contract end date, we reserve the right to reallocate any hops that have not been collected to other breweries that are able to take immediate delivery. If we are unable to reallocate the contracted hops, you will remain responsible for purchasing them as soon as possible, and the contract terms must still be honoured. Storage charges will apply from this point onward.
Following the contract end date, and once the previous year’s contract has been fulfilled, your supply will transition to the new contract for the current crop year (subject to timely delivery from the grower). We also reserve the right to supply new crop hops in place of old crop hops where necessary to fulfil contractual obligations.
We recommend reviewing your contract balance every three months and planning usage before the specified contract end date. If you anticipate being unable to take delivery, please notify us as early as possible so we may attempt to reallocate the hops to other customers. While we are not legally obligated to take back stock, we will make reasonable efforts to assist in the event of an overstock situation.
The HopWalk® is Charles Faram’s signature event, offering an informative and engaging day of presentations and industry updates from across the global hop sector.
Attendees can expect:
• Dedicated time for networking and a trade exhibition
• A comprehensive overview of hop growing and harvesting practices
• Up to date hop market reports from around the world
• Updates on new hop varieties and experimental developments
• A selection of distinctive beers to sample
• Opportunities for like minded brewers to exchange ideas while enjoying the countryside
• Supplier partner trade stands featuring malt, yeast, closures, hop products, brewing aids, branding services, trade associations, and charities
• New product launches
• The opportunity to inspect the hop crop firsthand
In short, yes. However, we ask that you notify us as soon as possible if you anticipate being unable to take your full contracted volume.
Hop growing is a long term commitment, with each plant producing a single crop per year. If hops are left unused, it may not always be possible to reassign them before the arrival of the next harvest. That said, Charles Faram is well known for its flexibility, and we will always consider requests to amend contracts in order to identify a mutually beneficial solution. Please note that some hop varieties offer more flexibility than others.
At our discretion, any quantity released from a contract will be subject to a charge of 20% of the value of the released amount.
Our main office is located in Newland, Worcestershire, at the foot of the picturesque Malvern Hills. We also operate offices and cold storage facilities in Yakima (USA), Bracebridge (Canada), and Wilków (Poland).
We maintain strong, long standing relationships with growers in Kent, and several Kent growers are directly involved in Charles Faram Farms Ltd. Further information about Charles Faram Farms, including our growing operations, can be found by selecting the Charles Faram Farms section within our About Us page.
Charles Faram sources and stocks hops from leading growing regions around the world. Our portfolio includes hops from New Zealand, the USA, Germany, France, Slovenia, Poland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, as well as the UK.
We are strong advocates for sustainability and actively support and participate in projects across multiple international hop growing regions. Our aim is to give brewers access to a diverse, high quality global hop range, enabling flexibility and creativity in beer recipes regardless of location.
Alongside this global offering, we continue to invest in hop research and development through our Hop Development Programme, which supports innovation, new varieties, and long term industry resilience. For the latest updates, we recommend following our communications and reviewing our current brochure and Hop Development Programme information.
The minimum contract volume for Charles Faram Europe is 5 kg per individual hop variety. All hops are contracted in 5 kg increments.
The minimum quantity available for direct purchase from Charles Faram is 5 kg per hop variety, supplied in 5 kg packs. If you require smaller volumes, please contact us and we will be happy to provide a list of recommended suppliers who specialise in lower volume packs.
The smallest amount of malt that you can buy whether crushed or whole is a 25kg pack.
Charles Faram continues to supply hops grown in New Zealand and has proudly supported New Zealand Hops since 1996. This represents nearly 30 years of partnership and collaboration with the New Zealand Hops team, and we are pleased to see this long standing relationship continue into the future.
We are unable to offer payment by direct debit. However, payments can be made via BACS transfer or through a Stripe payment link, which we are happy to provide on request.
Delivery options and times vary by region. A next day domestic service is available in Poland, while delivery timelines for other regions are dependent on location and can be found on our Shipping page. For region specific advice, please contact your local Charles Faram sales office.
The brewing and technical team at Charles Faram UK has developed a range of recipe cards designed to support brewers, whether as practical brewing guides or as inspiration to spark creativity. For further information, please contact your sales representative.
Our technical advisors are also available to provide hands on support with recipe development and to offer expert brewing advice. Customers are welcome to contact the team directly to discuss their requirements.
Every batch of hops received by Charles Faram is independently assessed by our technical and quality teams to ensure it meets our strict quality assurance standards. Any hops that do not meet these standards are rejected.
Detailed technical information is provided on each individual product page across our web shop. In addition, the Hop Oracle, accessible from our main website, offers a central resource where users can view and download comprehensive technical data sheets for all hop varieties.
Hop plants are dioecious, meaning male and female plants are grown separately. Seeded hops are produced when female hop plants are pollinated by male plants, resulting in seeds forming within the hop cone. Seedless hops are produced when male plants are removed, preventing pollination.
The UK is currently the only major hop growing country where seeded hops are deliberately cultivated. In most other hop growing regions, male plants are removed, sometimes as a regulatory requirement, so hops are typically grown seedless.
Historically, seeded hops were associated with certain brewing considerations, particularly due to the presence of lipids within the seed. Seeds have also been discussed in relation to hop creep in heavily dry hopped beers. The impact of seeds can vary depending on hop usage, brewing technique, and beer style, and both seeded and seedless hops continue to be used successfully by brewers around the world.
The flavour intensity score is a comparative indicator of a hop variety’s potential contribution to flavour and aroma in beer. It is a subjective assessment designed to help brewers compare hop varieties relative to one another, rather than a fixed or analytical measurement.
As the scale is comparative, it is periodically reviewed and adjusted as new hop varieties are introduced to ensure the scores remain relevant and meaningful across the range.
Some suppliers choose to incorporate delivery costs into the overall price of their goods. At Charles Faram, we prefer to be transparent by listing delivery charges separately, allowing customers to clearly see how costs are structured.
This approach also provides greater flexibility, as customers may choose to arrange their own courier services if preferred.
Goldings and East Kent Goldings are genetically the same. East Kent Goldings benefit from a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and therefore Goldings grown outside can’t be given the label East Kent Goldings. The specific area of East Kent benefits from light soils which historically have given good consistent yields. Elsewhere in the South-East and West Midlands, soils tend to be heavier with more clay. These heavier soils help in years of severe drought. Genetically and analytically British-grown Goldings and East Kent Goldings are indistinguishable, differences between the two are increasingly due to climatic conditions during the growing year.