Hops in the News

[Bribie G]

Hop Products Australia to carry out big expansion

ed: the audio interview is great

 

[PaleRider]

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.

 

[chrisluki]

I was visiting the Hop Fields yesterday when the media were doing their tour.

If you go to ABC iView and search Tas News for 10th March, you will find the news piece at about the 20 minute mark. My business partner, Chris, was interviewed for the piece. http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/abc-news-tas/NC1545T059S00

I am the guy on the right here, sniffing the hops. https://instagram.com/p/0C0Yh4iTov/

If you ever get a chance to tour the hop fields, do it!!!

 

[DU99]

My son mentioned about hop farm upgrades this morning

 

[droid]

Thanks for the post, interesting times ahead

 

[Yob]

keep in mind, they also shut down many many processing plants and farms years ago, just getting back the status quo eh?

 

[Bribie G]

I suppose back in the last century they ended up only requiring a certain amount of POR each year, then along came that silly craft beer, home brewers etc.

Strikes me that the NZ hop industry cottoned on a bit earlier than the Australian one and they are playing catch up.

 

[chrisluki]

Was great talking to OJ about how the farms have changed...

• Pride of Ringwood was once about 80% of their crop, now i think he said it was around 5% and that is only because CUB contract them to grow that much.
• the used to be 80% Bittering Hops and 20% aroma, its now the reverse.
• Their biggest hop is now Galaxy, which is amazing for a hop thats only 4 or so years old...it is 60%+ of their crop.
• Last year they actually sold out of Galaxy hops.
• In the last 2 years they turned over and replanted 40% of their fields.

All thanks to the craft beer revolution !

 

[droid]

there's an old hop kiln survivor up the road from my place, well about 30kms away. when we first moved here we dreamed of buying the land and having a brewery there. that's around when I realised I was at least 500k short of a 500k initial investment...haha

I was told that the silt ruined the soil (floods) around these parts which back in the day was a vibrant hop growing area

anyway would it seem we are in for a renaissance?

 

[stux]

Was great talking to OJ about how the farms have changed...

• Pride of Ringwood was once about 80% of their crop, now i think he said it was around 5% and that is only because CUB contract them to grow that much.
• the used to be 80% Bittering Hops and 20% aroma, its now the reverse.
• Their biggest hop is now Galaxy, which is amazing for a hop thats only 4 or so years old...it is 60%+ of their crop.
• Last year they actually sold out of Galaxy hops.
• In the last 2 years they turned over and replanted 40% of their fields.

All thanks to the craft beer revolution !

Galaxy has gone Global

 

[glenos]

I was there last Thursday, was a great afternoon.

 

[billygoat]

Took these photos when I visited Bushy Park two weeks ago. Very nice spot.

 

[jlm]

I think with OJ now being a big part of HPA and his previous experience in the brewing game we can really hope to see a lot more interesting product being developed. As much as I personally dislike Galaxy, its done wonders for getting our new varieties seen worldwide.
Dunno if there's any truth to to the story, but I've got a vague recollection that it was bred purely for alpha acid content to be used for extract until someone had a good look at it. Hopefully with an experienced hand from the craft brewing scene having some major input we'll see what brewers around the world want being developed rather than it being stumbled upon by accident.
Such a shame the OP won't be able to try what comes out of this development seeing as he swore off Tasmanian products a few anti-tasmanian govt rants ago.

 

[glenos]

Such a shame the OP won't be able to try what comes out of this development seeing as he swore off Tasmanian products a few anti-tasmanian govt rants ago.

So glad you said this I was going to remind him of his folly.

 

[chrisluki]

OJ mentioned that they have produced something like 5 new varieties in the last 5 years...something that is unheard of in the industry.

Having said that, he also said that he was putting the brakes on for releasing any new products in the foreseeable future!