Hop Products Australia’s Tim Lord

Hop Products Australia (HPA) has just commenced harvest and early indications suggest it’s going to be a bumper crop, enabling increased supply of proprietary flavour hops to the international craft beer market.

Already, demand is outstripping supply with the majority of the crop committed to pre-orders from Australian brewers and countries such as USA and UK.

Traditionally, hops have been used primarily for bittering. These new varieties of flavour hops, born of HPA’s breeding program, are changing the face of the industry. Amongst the hops being harvested is Galaxy, HPA’s most internationally recognised variety, which exudes passionfruit and peach characters with clean citrus aromas.

Hops Ella, Topaz and Summer are also making waves in the craft brewing scene, with a number of new releases at home and abroad featuring these new varieties.

HPA is one of only a handful of growers around the world who are committed to ongoing research and development of their own cultivars.

HPA Managing Director, Tim Lord says “Over the last few decades we have trialled literally thousands of plant cultivars to arrive at just ten we are currently growing commercially.”

“The overwhelming demand for our proprietary hops is changing the course of our business. We’ve had great feedback from brewers experimenting with these hops and you just have to taste the beers produced so far to
know we’re on the right track.”

The proprietary flavour hops are of particular interest to brewers in the craft beer industry as this sector continues to grow. According to global consumer intelligence agency Mintel, craft beer sales nearly doubled in the United States between 2007($5.7 billion) and 2012 ($12 billion), a boom that is being seen around the globe and sets a promising future for the Australian hop industry.

About HPA

HPA is Australia’s most significant grower and producer of hops, with farms in Bushy Park, Tasmania and Rostrevor, Victoria. Both sites are steeped in history having grown hops since the 1800s. HPA is part of the Barth-Haas Group, the oldest and largest hop company in the world with more than 200 years of hop trading experience.

The inquisitive nature to ask questions and wonder “what if” and genuine curiosity about what hops can bring to beer has been part of the HPA culture for more than 60 years. HPA is proud to bring an Australian take on traditional hops, but most importantly to trial and develop ideas into new and exciting hop varieties.