Every year around the start of March, we brewers get to experience the fleeting harvest of freshly picked hops. For a few wonderful days, the air around the hop yard is full of the singular smell of maturing hops, and we have the opportunity to harness the fresh hop flavour before they go off to be pelletised and packaged for shelf stable storage. These hops, picked fresh in the morning and delivered directly to the brew to be used later that day, represent a year of work by the grower and a season of rain, sun, and wind that nurtures the plant before harvest time.
For the last few years, we have developed a technique for extracting the maximum impact from the precious hops. We flash freeze the hops so they become extremely brittle and we can then shatter them into small shards. This exposes the centre of the hop cone, which allows us to extract as much flavour as possible from the hops. Compare this to making a cup of coffee using whole beans vs grinding the beans before brewing a cup—you extract much more flavour from the ground coffee, and the same is true for hops.
In order to showcase these hops, we have brewed a Hazy IPA that has received a dose of fresh Beedleup and Victoria hops both in the brew kettle and later in the process, after fermentation has been completed. By building these layers of flavour we can express the freshness of the hops and support them with a smooth and full-bodied beer. These hops were expertly grown by our friends at Great Southern Hops, just a short drive from the brewery, and it’s our pleasure to work with them once again to deliver a taste that can only be experienced for a brief time each year.
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