Hop harvest is an exciting time in the craft beer calendar. For the past few years, the hop fields of Victoria and Tasmania have played host to craft brewers from around the country, looking to collect the fresh hops. Plucked from the bine a mere hours ago, the whole hop cones are added to the brew to create what’s known at “wet-“ or “fresh-hopped” beers, distinct from the kinds of beers brewed throughout the rest of the year, which use dried or processed hops. The result is a fresh and aromatic beer that carries the terroir of the land and, perhaps most importantly, forms a more intimate connection between the brewer and the producer – something that’s held in high regard in the craft beer industry.
Although many New South Wales breweries have been involved in Victoria and Tasmania’s hop harvest, this year will be the very first that a wet-hopped beer will be made from New South Wales grown hops. The reason why this has never happened before is that hops are notoriously difficult to grow. Indeed, one of the most important conditions for their success is for them to be grown below the 35-degree latitude line, which ensures proper seasonal day length and the presence of winter frost. Some astute, geographically-minded readers may notice that not a lot of New South Wales lies below the 35-degree latitude line (Canberra lies just about on it), but even many parts that do, don’t offer the other required hop-growing conditions.
Some of the very first NSW harvested hop bines from this season.
Source: Ryefield Hops Facebook
The outfit behind this year’s NSW hop harvest is the young Ryefield Hops, who you can read more about here. They’re a family-run business looking to grow sustainable and spray-free hops for the craft beer industry. Last year’s trial run hop-harvest has given way to this year’s, with Cascade, Chinook and Fuggle varieties all up for grabs for New South Wales brewers, as well as Sydney-based homebrewers, who can collect frozen whole hops from the Hop + Grain Brew Store in Marrickville and F.a.T. Grain in Leichhardt.
As for those itching to try the resulting beers, detailed below, they’ll be available first at Ryefield’s Hop Harvest events on the 7th and 8th of April at Dulcie’s Cottage in Merimbula, NSW and at the Scotch Oven Café in Bemboka, NSW. Better yet, $1 from each beer sold will go to the Tathra Relief Mayor Fund, for the town affected earlier this year by devastating bushfires.
So, here’s to raising a wet-hopped glass to Ryefield (and the collaborating brewers), for giving us local produce to be proud of and for freeing us of the envious gaze we’ve been giving the southerly states for years.
The Ryefield Hops and Modus Operandi crews launching Show Stopper, brewed with NSW hops, at the Royal Easter Show.
Source: Ryefield Hops Facebook
List of NSW & ACT beers using wet-hops this harvest season:
Show Stopper – Modus Operandi
Style: Pale Ale
Variety: Cascade
Wet Hop XPA – 4 Pines Brewing Company
Style: XPA
Variety: Cascade (20 kg)
Hop Harvest Ale – Cupitt Craft Brewers
Style: Amber Ale
Varieties: Cascade and Chinook
Commuter – Bentspoke Brewing Co
Style: Amber Ale
Varieties: Cascade and Fuggle
UPDATE: We’ve been informated that Southern Highlands Brewing Co also created a wet-hopped beer for the first time this season, using their own hops grown in Sutton Forest. Details on the beer, named “Sutton Forest Hop Harvest” can be found here.