March's turn into April always means we get to enjoy a once-in-a-year opportunity in Australia: beers made with hops plucked straight from the bine. Among the earliest releases is always Bridge Road’s Harvest Beers, which are the country’s longest-running, going right back to 2009. In more recent years, they’ve asked breweries to join them for both beers and in the case of Hazy Harvest, the pick was a brewery that knows plenty about haze, Fox Friday. The beer uses both whole Galaxy cones and freshly-processed Cascade to steer the vibrant and thick beer into a sticky mix of fresh passionfruit, pineapple, mango and peach with a layer of pine and resin joining the juice.
Dark Harvest meanwhile might use hops from just down the road but it was designed with input from further afield and one of craft beer's biggest names, Matt Brynildson. The Firestone Walker brewmaster is renowned for his hop knowledge and this beer took inspiration from the California breweries Wookie Jack by including rye in the malt bill. It means that while there are still layers of roast and chocolate present in previous iterations there's also some spice, while this year's hop harvest brining orange, peach and a touch of passionfruit.
Will Ziebell
Published April 4, 2023 2023-04-04 00:00:00
