Thumb Coast Hopyard

09/27/2026

One of our favorite days of the year yesterday...hop delivery! Stopped by HUCO Brew Co. And Thumb Brewery. Then spent the evening at Simms for the HUCO tap takover.

09/26/2026

Were having a HUCO Brew Co. Tap Takeover tonight and the George Selleke Band is playing 6 to 9pm on the patio. Singing to the Harvest Moon party! Bring your friends!

09/26/2026

We'll be there Sat evening. Our hops are in all HUCO Brew Co. b**rs. Drink local!

🌕 SINGING TO THE MOON — PARTY ON THE PATIO! 🎶

We’re celebrating the Harvest Moon with two nights of live music, cold craft b**r and fall patio vibes at Simms!

🍺 HUCO Brew Co. Brewery Tap Takeover — all weekend!
We’ll be featuring HUCO b**rs on tap throughout the weekend.

🎸 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
The George Selleke Band | 6–9 PM

🎶 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
Bravin | 4–7 PM
Grindstone Cowboys | 7–10 PM

We’ll have the lights on, the b**r cold and the music playing. Come early, grab a drink and a seat, and spend the evening with us under the Harvest Moon.

Great drinks • Great music • Fine ci**rs • Better company

📍 Simms Still & Stogies @ The Garfield Inn
8544 Lake St. • Port Austin, MI

Tag the crew you’re bringing to the patio!

09/06/2026

Sounds amazing!

Fall Just Got Poured. 🎃🍺

Our Pumpkin Ale is brewed with real Local Amish-grown pumpkin that we cut and roast in the oven prior to brewing, fresh local hops from Thumb Coast Hopyard & PAK'S Backyard in Port Austin, a touch of caramel, and delicate whole vanilla beans harvested from the Island of Madagascar that our brewer George ordered over the phone.😆🍻

Smooth, lightly spiced, rich and creamy with just enough pumpkin, vanilla, caramel & fermentation to taste like Fall without taking a Fall. 4.6% ABV.

Local hops. Real Amish pumpkin. Fresh vanilla. Pure Michigan Fall in a glass. 🍂🌾

🎃 HUCO Brew Co. Pumpkin Ale — Fall is officially on tap.

Sidenote, we also have hard c***r on tap as well.😁

09/04/2026

Join our friends down the road at North Kinde Hops for their annual hop picking event, it is a lot of fun. See their post for details!

🌿 Just a reminder — tomorrow is North Kinde Hops Harvest 2026! 🌿

Saturday, September 5
Starting at 9:00 AM until we’re done!

Come join us and help with the hop harvest! 🌿 Join in whenever you can — every helping hand is appreciated!
Lunch and beverages will be provided.

North Kinde Hops. 450 Moeller Road. Kinde, MI 48445

Questions? Call Bill at 810-938-2273

“Hop” you can join us! 🌿😊

09/04/2026

What a great event at the brewery last night for Patio Club! Wonderful b**r, food, and company. Love this place😁

09/02/2026

We'll be at Thumb Brewery Patio Party tomorrow. We still have some t-shirts available for purchase and can bring them with us. S, M, L and (1) 2XL. $20 each. See pinned post for design. Super soft Bella Canvas

08/30/2026

Wow, what a shout out! It's hard work some days, but we really love being a part of this community, farming land I grew up on and helping provide great b**r. And George is right, the climate helps😀 Very proud to support local..cheers🍻

I couldn't share the original post so i copied it here. From brewmaster George Selleke

Every HUCO b**r is brewed with hops grown right here in Michigan’s Thumb by Thumb Coast Hopyard in Port Austin. I truly believe they stand with some of the best hops in the world.

There’s actually some pretty fascinating science behind why hops can thrive here.

Port Austin sits at roughly 44° North latitude, placing Michigan’s Thumb right in the prime latitude range for commercial hop production. Because the Earth is tilted about 23.5° on its axis, our northern latitude gives us exceptionally long days during the summer growing season. Near exactly like Northern Italy being a similar latitude. Hops are highly sensitive to day length, or photoperiod, and those long summer days provide the sunlight they need for tremendous vegetative growth before the changing day length later in the season helps drive the plant toward maturity and cone production.

That puts us in one of the best positions in the World. Many of the world’s great hop-growing regions are located at similar northern latitudes, including the Pacific Northwest, while several famous European agricultural and wine-growing regions also fall within the same general latitude belt.

Then we have our Great Lake Huron.

A body of water that large changes the climate around it. Water heats and cools much more slowly than land, so Lake Huron acts as a massive thermal buffer. It can help moderate temperature extremes near the shoreline, ultimately keeping spring cooler, reducing extreme summer heat and helping moderate temperatures as the seasons change.

Combine our latitude, long summer daylight, cold winters, Lake Huron influence and Michigan soil, and the Thumb has some remarkable natural ingredients for growing hops & grapes.

But climate only gives you the opportunity. Great hops still have to be grown.

That’s why a huge thank you goes to the farmers at Thumb Coast Hopyard. The aroma, flavor and quality that eventually make their way into a glass of HUCO b**r begin months earlier in their fields with the work, knowledge and dedication they put into those plants all season long.

I am incredibly proud to brew with hops grown just down the road, and even prouder to have the support from my friends Brian & Vanessa Bader growing them.

From a hop field in Port Austin to a glass of HUCO b**r—that’s about as local as it gets. 🌿🍺

Grown in the Thumb. Brewed in the Thumb. Distributing from Huron, Out!🍻

08/30/2026

Chinook are down and the hop harvest is complete! It was an 11.5 hr day yesterday. We didn't have room to dry everything in a decent amount of time so we plan to tweak things again for next year.

And we're finally getting around to getting up the sign my co-worker made us!

08/25/2026

Magnum harvest complete!
This is our 2nd largest crop and we were so burnt out last year we were determined to improve our drying system. Brian built a 2nd oast to help and it really help dry everything faster.

We got a smaller harvest this year. I think less rain and our water pump not working properly mid season may have contributed. I also included a pic of hops not picked. I hate leaving hops behind😟 We normally run everything through the harvester then pick through "the garbage" that comes out the back and left on the bines. We did some this year. The 4 hour or so rain delay set us back harvesting. We picked till 10:30 and called it.

Brian made a great point this weekend. This is a hobby. We love being able to be weekend farmers and be a part of this great farm/b**r community. But we also have day jobs that actually pay the bills and a family that come first...and our sanity.