(Oneida, NY – Sept. 2015) Join the Madison County Historical Society’s 20th Annual Madison County Hop Fest Sept. 19 at 2:15 p.m. to see the crowning of the 2015 Hop King, Don Cazentre.
A tradition at Hop Fest is to recognize an individual or individuals who have demonstrated a passion honoring hop heritage set forth by the first Hop King John Alden Haight who was crowned back in 1996. Since then Kings and Queens have been receiving this distinguished honor.
Don Cazentre is a Food & Drink writer for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard and author of 2nd edition of New York Breweries. He joins the esteemed royal court.
In addition to Don’s ongoing participation at Hop Fest as a past guest speaker and co-emcee of the Taste of Hops coupled with his knowledge and passion of craft beer that he shares with this readers through his numerous articles and recent book justifies the distinction bestowed upon him as this year’s 2015 Madison County Hop King.
Members of the esteemed royalty include Assemblyman Bill Magee, sixth Hop King for his strong support of hop production in the Central New York region; Kate and Larry Fisher, ninth Queen and King, owners of Foothill hops; Dan Mitchell, thirteenth Hop King, owner of Ithaca Beer Co., strong advocate of using local hops in his craft beer; David Katleski, fifteenth Hop King, President of the New York Brewer’s Association and owner of Empire Brewing Company for his advocacy for the craft beer industry; Senator Dave Valesky, sixteenth King, for sponsoring legislation to promote farm breweries; Carrie Blackmore and Matt Whalen, seventeenth Hop Queen and King, owners of Good Nature Brewing, a farm brewery; Steve Milller, eighteenth Hop King, Cornell Cooperative Extension – New York State – Hops Educator instrumental in the expansion of the number of acres of hops in New York State from less than 20 to soon to be over 150 acres. Dr. Chris Nyberg, nineteenth Hop King, Dean of the School of Agriculture, Sustainability, Business Entrepreneurship at Morrisville State College was awarded funding for the SMART Lab manufacturing grant to create a hops processing, barley malting and brewing facility to enhance further understanding of hop production.
For more information on Hop Fest, call the society at 363-4136 or visit madisonhopfest.org