We love working with Andrew Childs at Behemoth Brewing - we were stoked to collab with him for his fresh hop brew for the annual fresh hop craft beer releases from New Zealand’s leading craft brewers in April 2021.
Andrew travelled to our Battery Hill farm to hand-select 200kg of fresh Nelson Sauvin. Then it went straight onto an Air New Zealand flight direct to Auckland. Once these freshly picked hops reached Behemoth brewery they were transformed into this epic brew - Hop Brothers Fresh Hop IPA.
You don’t get fresher than this!
Hop Brothers contains just one hop variety - our beautiful Clayton Hops Nelson Sauvin - making it tropical, dank with a hint of gooseberry.
The Clayton brothers faces even made it onto the can art in customary Behemoth cartoon style.
Creating fresh hop craft beer is quite different from the usual brewing process (which involves kiln-dried hops). Craft brewers love using fresh hops but this is only possible on the day the hops are picked. Production is time-critical with hops needing to be in the brew within 24 hours of picking.
Often brewers will fly to our farm, personally select their hops and fly them straight back to their brewery to get to work brewing. Following harvest in March, the fresh hop brews hit the shelf in April each year. The flavour profile of fresh hop beers is very unique due to the use of green hops.
Creating fresh hop beer is a labour of love, but well worth it to passionate craft brewers like Behemoth who are on a mission to provide their customers with the best brews. Fresh hop season is a once-a-year opportunity to enjoy the fresh aromas only found in green hop beers.
Thanks Andrew and the Behemoth team for continually raising the bar in the craft beer industry - we are already looking forward to fresh hop season 2022!
Interested to hear more? New World supermarkets created some awesome media to celebrate this special time of the year in the New Zealand craft brewing industry. Check out this video they created about our farms.
