Hop farms in cities of the future?

Facting out that beer has a place in the imaginations of the prophets

Reading a book today called Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, which is on the list top 100 Sci Fi books ever written, that I downloaded in audio version because idle hands are the devils work. Brewing and reading, you say? Oh yes! She does that. 

The meek point of the moment is that there is a killer chapter where the Protagonist (conveniently named Hero Protagonist)  gets into a rather bloody stand off with the Antagonist (not actually his name) in a hop field. Can't say that there is a lot of description about the hops or more then a sentence as to why there is a hop farm in the middle of a city at all, but the mention of beer related things makes my hairs prick up. I was flattered that a book written in 1995 would host enough knowledge of the plant to set a battle scene in a field of them. Stephenson goes as far as to discrib the sticky, sweet marijuana like smell that fills the air. Today, craft beer is rather hip, but in the mid 90's it was still slightly underground. 

The obvious conclusion, ladies and gentlenerds, is that we have a home brewer gone Science Fiction writer on our hands!

Who also seems to know a thing or two about gaming, as he is mystified by the recent debates over WoW gold farming in China. Look it up.