Summit County

Volunteers pick wild hops for land conservation fundraiser, beer

KPCW | By Connor Thomas

Published September 5, 2025 at 6:05 PM MDT

Volunteers pick hops growing near Ontario Mine in Park City Sept. 5, 2025.

Proceeds from "Clothing Hoptional" benefit the Summit Land Conservancy's land preservation efforts.

Beermakers at Top of Main Brew Pub in Park City, formerly Wasatch Brew Pub, have a tradition of using wild hops stretching back more than 15 years.

On a hops hunt in 2014, brewmaster Nils Imboden said he bumped into Summit Land Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox, who told him he was on property under the land trust’s care.

“I'm like, ‘No, I'm helping!’ It's like, I'm getting rid of it for you, because it can be kind of a nuisance to deal with. She's like, ‘Well, okay, let's do something,’ and then that's sort of how it spiraled,” Imboden told KPCW. “And that was 11 years ago.”

Once Top of Main began officially collaborating with Summit Lands, the brew once known as “Hop Bandit” became “Clothing Hoptional.” Proceeds from its sale benefit the Summit Land Conservancy.

Hops are added to the mash that will soon become the Clothing Hoptional wild hops ale Sept. 5, 2025.

The nonprofit sets up hikes every year where volunteers pick wild hops from protected and public lands. Many were planted there years ago by Park City’s miners.

Friday was the Hops Harvest, and volunteers gathered countless bags of the bright green climbing plant, sat down and picked off the cones.

2025 is the eleventh year Summit Land Conservancy and Top of Main Brew Pub are collaborating on the Clothing Hoptional wild hops ale.

“We hiked up to Ontario, found some good hops up there, and we're picking it all so that we can drink the beer later and support Summit Land,” Parkite Kelly Riley said at the harvest.

Summit Land Conservancy Engagement Manager Michayla Herr said the Wednesday hikes, which began in June, range across the rail trail, Empire Canyon, Daly Canyon and more. There are some wild hops at Summit Community Gardens too.

Dozens of volunteers signed up to do the manual labor of separating the hops cones needed for brewing beer from the rest of the plant Sept. 5, 2025.

Common hops (Humulus lupulus) is a perennial, so it comes back every year. Even though some of it might not be native to Utah, it doesn’t spread like a noxious weed.

And because the hops are wild, Clothing Hoptional tastes different every year depending on the weather. Imboden said a blonde ale is expected to come from this year’s batch.

Volunteers pick the cones off wild hops at Top of Main Brew Pub Sept. 5, 2025, during Summit Land Conservancy's annual "Hops Harvest."

To keep it local, the barley comes from Salt Lake City-based Solstice Malt.

2025’s Clothing Hoptional will debut at Summit Land’s “Hoppy Hour” at Top of Main Oct. 9. Anyone interested in the Hops Hunters Hikes next year can check Summit Land’s “happenings” webpage for more information.

Summit Land Conservancy is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.