Carpenter Ranches + Pressure Drop
COLLABORATION 1 / FEBRUARY 2021
Carpenter Ranches was established in 1868 when Charles Carpenter departed from his hop growing family in New York and settled in the Ahtanum area of the Yakima Valley, beginning with just a log cabin and an ox cart. As the first hop farm in Washington State east of the Cascade Mountains, Charles helped pioneer what is now the largest hop producing region in the world. He transformed a once wilderness area into a hop farm with his own custom-designed irrigation system, hop press, and wood-fueled kiln. Six generations later, the Carpenter family maintains Charles’ same innovative and creative spirit. With a strong focus on ingenuity and sustainability, they thrive within a “built not bought” mentality, utilizing all of their own resources whenever possible to operate and expand the farm.
As a partner in Yakima Chief Ranches and Hop Breeding Company, the Carpenters are driven by the growing demand for unique varietal selections and the expanding craft beer industry. The family produces more than 21 varieties on their ranches and values their relationships within the brewing community, believing that craft brewers will continue to be on the forefront of new, exciting tastes. In addition to industry demand, the Carpenters are driven to uphold their family tradition of growing quality hops. They pride themselves on being a family-oriented farm and enjoy watching each new generation grow into their role(s) on the ranch.
It’s a tight knit gang that bring you new Pressure Drop beers each week. Having started tiny, in a garden shed, the surroundings might have gotten bigger, but the team remains small yet perfectly formed. The eight people who make up Pressure Drop are a get-stuck-in DIY bunch, each with their own idiosyncratic sound track of jazz, hair metal or Kacey Musgraves.
It’s been a seven year journey of Pale Fire, railway arches and daft forklift jokes. Starting from that garden shed, and winding our way to our current home in Tottenham, North London, today we brew hazy pales that would have mystified us in our bright early days. Our beer portfolio still sees us returning to classics from our first years brewing, while adding some DIPA & milk stout fun to the mix.
In our own Upstairs Downstairs scenario, we have a three-person strong brew team, headed by brewery co-founder, Cornishman and snood fan Ben Freeman. Working alongside him are Craig, whose photography has also featured on our beer labels, and Sam the aforementioned jazz afficionado. Keeping the packaging and warehousing cogs running smoothly, we have Brad, proud Canadian and snack connoisseur.
Not quite the madwomen in the attic, but our upstairs office is a more female-dominated environment, with Clare, Roscmmon’s own, managing the orders & customers, while Sienna, Queensland native and sparkle aficionado keeps Pressure Drop looking neat and swell, via our labels, social media and online shop. Between these two kingdoms we find Sam, another co-founder and Gooner, making sure our spreadsheets are present and correct, as well as helping the gang out wherever needed, on the packaging line, in the warehouse or online shop. Our kid Louis completes the Pressure Drop jigsaw, keeping The Experiment running with a healthy dose of nonsense humour and Northern charm.
