Last week I visited Hops-Meister farm in Clearlake, CA, with Jesse Friedman of Almanac Beer and Jonathan Kauffman, staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. It was the first official day of this year’s hop harvest. Jesse chose varietals for an upcoming fresh hop beer, and Jonathan wanted to learn more about how they’re cultivated. As for me, I just love to visit the farm each year, and never got a chance to document the picking and processing last year.