As they release their 2023 crop report, we spoke to Australia's largest hop grower, Hop Products Australia, about their faith in their latest commercial variety, Eclipse, what's on the horizon, and the wider world of hops.
The South West might be best known for wine and beaches, but now it's not just the brewing community that's growing fast: these days the region has multiple small-scale hop growers making an impact on the local beer industry.
Australian hops can ignite plenty of passion among local brewers but they're not alone. Overseas, the likes of Galaxy are often in high demand. With hop harvest underway, we asked some international brewers for their thoughts on our hops.
It's not just the brewing scene that's expanding apace in WA's South West – there's a growing number of local producers supplying brewers too. Among them is South West Hops, who significantly stepped up their output in 2022.
It's not uncommon for brewpubs to have a stack of games for anyone looking to settle in but no there's a card game with breweries at its heart. We caught up with the creators of Hops ‘n’ Robbers to find out more.
The country's largest hop grower is investing in a major pelleting plant in Victoria which will allow them to keep up with their expanding farm capacity. Hop Products Australia also believe it will provide more consistent hops for brewers.
If you love limited release hazy beers, you might have spotted the name Freestyle Hops on a can from your favourite brewery. We caught up with the managing director of the NZ grower to find out what the Freestyle life is all about.
The hop harvest is underway in Australia, which means fresh hop beers are on their way. One brewery has been brewing them longer than most: Bridge Road Brewers, so we chatted to co-owner Ben Kraus about 14 years of harvest ales.
It's not uncommon to enjoy a free beer while getting a haircut but La Bodega is taking things further. We caught up with the people behind the barbershop-meets-beer bar for a chat about their plan to bring craft beer to Williamstown.
Blockchains. Crypto. The metaverse. They're terms we hear about a lot these days but do they have much common ground with the world of beer? We spoke to two Australian brewing companies embracing digital currencies to find out.
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Haze and DDH might be here to stay but brewers are trialling new ways to brew punchy, hoppy beers. We caught up with two Australian brewers taking cues from America to brew "dip hopped" and "cold IPAs".
AC Hops was launched late in 2019 by a couple with little experience in growing hops but a lot of ideas about farming and passion for craft beer. Following their latest harvest, we caught up with Victorian growers.
The Gold Coast has added another notch to its brewing belt with the opening of the region's first barrel room. AWOL sits behind Black Hops' original home in Burleigh Heads and is already home to more than 100 barrels.
He gets to play around with new ingredients and techniques as much, if not more, than any brewer in the country, yet you'll never taste his beers. We spent A Day In The Life Of Ellerslie Hop's technical brewer Glenn Harrison.
Victorian breweries and other craft producers have until March 26, 2021, to apply for up to $15,000 in grants from the state government's "Small-scale and Craft Program" to develop their business operations.
Sydney Brewery claimed yet another major trophy for one of their lagers at the 2021 Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show Beer Awards, taking our Grand Champion Beer for their Pilsner.
From the beer in top spot via two Queenslanders bursting into the top ten with new entries and a hazy from the Margaret River region, we chat to some of the people at breweries making waves in the 2020 poll.
At the start of last year, the small-scale Ryefield Hops' entire harvest was destroyed by drought and the subsequent bushfires. We caught up with co-founder Jade McManus to talk about the year that was and their plans for the future.
Well, who saw that coming? We kick off our end of 2020 coverage with a look back at some of the biggest trends and standout moments of the past twelve months.
Many brewers want their beer distributed as far as possible. But if you want to drink Manly Hops' beers, you'll have to go to Manly. Here's the story of this exclusive brewing company making "bullshit-free beer".
Seven years after the launch of Enigma, Hop Products Australia today unveil the latest` hop variety to graduate from their breeding program. Eclipse is a sibling of star pupil Galaxy set to bring a hit of mandarin to an IPA near you soon.
Support for local beer rose sharply in 2020 as drinkers rallied behind their locals during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Beer Cartel's annual survey. It also says Black Hops replace Balter as the country's favourite brewery.
Black Hops have bought Brisbane's Semi-Pro Brewing and will turn their East Brisbane brewpub into the third Black Hops brewery venue. The Semi-Pro founders are sticking around as part of the new venture.
Hops are the star in many of the big hits of the modern beer world. In the second of his Beer Basics articles giving readers an introduction to beer and brewing, Molly Rose founder Nic Sandery moves from malt to hops.
Few things in the world of beer excite people as much as hops. So we got in touch with a bunch of growers, sellers and hop-lovin' brewers to find out which varieties they love the most and whose mastery of hops impresses them most.
You can't grow hops in Queensland. But two small operations are giving it a red hot go, with UV lights to extend the days, help from growers and researchers worldwide and goodwill aplenty.
Demand for Aussie hops shows no sign of slowing, with Hop Products Australia this week opening a new processing facility in the Victorian High Country yet already looking at further expansion well into the future.
From fermenting pumpkins at home and homebrewing with his brother via Malt Shovel to heading up New Zealand Hops, Doug Donelan has lived his life in beer. We sat down with him as he starts looking forward to retirement.
Owen Johnston was head brewer at Moo Brew when it launched and now works for HPA, helping get Aussie hops into the hands of brewers across the world. Here he is as we reach day 18 in our Advent Calendar.
When the 75th Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race takes place this summer, the local beer world will have skin in the game. Gold Coast brewery Black Hops are sponsoring 114-year-old spinnaker Katwincher.
The success of local producers is regularly lauded on these pages and elsewhere. But the achievements of Paul and Jess Ghaie in the world of good booze retail are as worthy of recognition as any indie brewer or winemaker.
Dr Tom Shellhammer is a world-leading expert in hop chemistry helping brewers understand how better to use hops. We caught up with him in Tasmania as he gives a series of talks in Australia.
Ahead of the fifth High Country Hops festival in Beechworth, Bridge Road have hosted their first Beer Glamp, inviting winemakers and brewers to town to collaborate on beers (and sleep in yurts).
Thanks to the launch of small hop farms, a local operation producing yeast for brewers and the production of malt with Queensland provenance, Archer in Brisbane have created QPA, which they believe is the first modern, all-Queensland beer.
There are plenty of far larger and higher profile beer competitions in New Zealand and Australia but, arguably, none as influential. Our Man In NZ travels back in time to trace the evolution of the annual West Coast IPA Challenge.
Plans to open Australia's first cooperative brewery have taken a step forward as the founders joined members at the site of their proposed brewery and taproom in the Sydney's Inner West. Hannah Louise Grugel joined them to find out more.
As the audience for craft beer grows and competition intensifies, quality and education are more important than ever. We speak to a Brisbane brewery and Melbourne retailer finding their own ways of spreading the fresh is best message.
It was an eclectic collection of winners at the 2018 Australian International Beer Awards, with WA's Beerland taking out Champion Australian Beer and other major trophies for Mountain Goat, Green Beacon, Black Hops, Fixation, Brownstone, Philter and even one of our own.
Increasing numbers of brewers and beer lovers with a bit of land are trying their hand at growing hops, among them the duo behind Southern Highland Brewing Co. After a successful second harvest, they've just put out the first harvest ale brewed with locally grown hops.
With the Commonwealth Games in full swing and the Gold Coast home to much in the way of great beer, expat Kiwi Steffan Paton serves up his first article for The Crafty Pint.
A "catastrophic" fire has caused devastating damage at Ellerslie Hop, one of the largest hop growing operations in Australia. The fourth generation family business has lost its major processing equipment, sheds and the majority of its 2018 crop.
Hop harvest has started across Australia, with the first fresh or wet hop beers already hitting taps and fridges. But what are they and why are more and more brewers looking to brew them every year?
Of beer's four main ingredients, it's hops, those pungent, sticky wee green cones, that have done more to drive the growth of craft beer than any other. Pia from girl + beer spent a day during harvest at Karridale in WA getting up close and personal with them.
There were plenty of stories and talking points to be found in this year's GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers results. Here, we chat to the brewers behind four of them, from Balter, BentSpoke, Black Hops and Hop Nation.
We took a trip to one of Australia's largest hop farms months out from harvest to learn about the farm's history, its ups and downs, the invigorating effect of craft beer and more in the company of the third generation family that runs it.
We head to the Sunshine State to find out what our panelists thought were the best new beers released by Queensland brewers in 2017. There were so many, the ten became 11 – and even then there's some honourably mentions too.
As the 2017 Sydney Beer Week kicks off, we return to the streets of the New South Wales capital for another Crafty Crawl. Here, Judd Owen takes us through Redfern in the manner only he can.
The owners of a former dairy farm in the south of New South Wales have embarked on a new direction: hop farming. Ryefield Hops harvested its first crop earlier this year, with some of those hops going into Waratah, an all NSW beer released by Wildflower during Sydney Beer Week.
While Wellington claims to be New Zealand’s "craft beer capital" and cities like Christchurch and Auckland occasionally stake a claim for the title, the Nelson/Tasman area feels like its home. Our Man In NZ Jono Galuszka recounts his weeklong road trip through the area,
A nanobrewery and tiny hop farm join forces this weekend to launch their collaborative Wet Hop IPA as part of a mission to show Heathcote can be known for more than Shiraz. We spoke to Skull Gully Hops and Cornella Real ahead of the launch.