Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Aussie Hops Series: Eclipse - Presented By HPA
320 Plays4 days ago
"I don't think you can really overpower it because it's just such a great hop and pairs really well with a lot of other tropical or fruity hops."
In partnership with HPA, Australia's leading hop grower, we've created a series of podcast episodes – an Aussie Hop Series – looking closely at some of the country's most recognised and impactful hop varieties.
Over the course of the series, we're speaking with leading brewers from across Australia and abroad, as well as experts from HPA, discussing their experience with these iconic hops, what they've learned along the way, as well as some technical tips and tricks to maximise the impact of these hops in their beers.
For this, the penultimate episode in the series, we chatted to Philter head brewer Max Hämmerle and Michael Capaldo from HPA, about Eclipse. The hop, renowned for its mandarin and citrusy qualities, was formally commercialised and given the name Eclipse in 2020 after appearing in beers for a number of years as HPA-016.
Max and Michael chat about its impact on beers, how and when it’s used by Philter, Eclipse in Spectrum liquid hop form, as well as a teaser about the latest experimental variety HPA are sharing with brewers.
For more information on HPA and their range of hops, visit hops.com.au.
To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Eclipse Hop
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey guys, it's Craig here and welcome back to our Aussie Hops series presented by the legends of HPA. Through this series, we've been talking to some of the best brewers around Australia and even a couple from across the world about the glory of Australian hops.
00:00:21
Speaker
um We've been dealing with one hop at a time.
Eclipse Hop's Launch and Flavor Profile
00:00:23
Speaker
Today, we're here to talk to you about Eclipse and I'm joined by Michael MC Capaldo from HPA and Max Hemley, head brewer at Filter Brewing.
00:00:33
Speaker
MC, good to have you here, mate. Yeah, good to be here, Craig. are you going? I'm good, mate. and And Max, nice to meet you as well. Nice to meet you, Craig. Happy to be here and looking forward to talking with you about some hops.
00:00:47
Speaker
Well, mate, we're in the perfect space for it now. Eclipse is one of my favorite hops, one of my personal favorites. MC, tell me more ah about it for the uninitiated.
00:00:58
Speaker
What is this hop? Where does it come from? What are we expecting out
Discovering Eclipse at Filter Brewing
00:01:01
Speaker
of it? Give me the give me the spiel. All the questions. um So eclipse Eclipse is a fabulous hop. We released it in 2020. twenty twenty So it's the newest hop varietal that we've we' we've launched and we might we'd like to give new hops a bit of a runway to see how they perform.
00:01:17
Speaker
um And Eclipse's growth has been really great and acceptance amongst brewers has been really good because it's got a ah delicious impact in beer. Um, so it's, it's, it's still in a growth trend here in Australia, in the States and in Europe. And I think a lot of that is to do with its unique character. So it's got quite a distinct Mandarin flavor, um, and just a hint of pine in there as well. So it, it, it blends in nicely and it's a different hop to a lot of other hops in our portfolio that, um, are perhaps more passion fruit forward or, you know, uh, red grape forward. This one here Eclipse offers a ah slightly different flavor perspective.
00:01:54
Speaker
Yeah, nice. I love that. Mandarin is is the perfect
Brewing with Eclipse: Experiences and Market Response
00:01:57
Speaker
term. It's such a distinctive kind of aroma and flavor that comes through. Now, Max, you're head brewer at Filter Brewing. um Tell me, mate, what was your first experience with Eclipse? It was only released you know four years ago or so.
00:02:12
Speaker
Where did you first come across it and what were your first thoughts? So the first first time I come across came across Eclipse Hops was ah actually through a a sample pack. i can't remember the brewery anymore, but they had it. And I was like, Eclipse Hops from HPA, what is that? So put my nose into it and I was like, oh, that's interesting.
00:02:33
Speaker
I would definitely build definite be very ah keen to try that out. And, yeah, so that was the initial – yeah the initial ah occasion where I thought okay we go from there um I want to give this help a go and brew a nice beer with filter and mate so what beers are you brewing with Eclipse of so of the filter portfolio you're obviously renowned for your XBA you've got a whole range of other styles coming through i all the time i guess where are you seeing Eclipse being used there
00:03:09
Speaker
So, ah first time we've used Eclipse is in a modified version of our Hazy hay IPA. And um so basically what we did, we slightly adjusted the grain bill and paired the Eclipse hops with another hop variety.
00:03:31
Speaker
and which is one hop variety where I thought it's going to be and be pairing very well with Eclipse. And we have brewed that in collaboration with HPA, actually, by the way, which was great. And the but the the final result of that product, of that beer was just amazing.
00:03:48
Speaker
And yeah, long story short, got on the market and it was sold out very quickly, kegs and pack. And we then decided last year, I think was, yeah, it was 2024 that we brew it again.
Exploring Hop Pairings with Eclipse
00:04:02
Speaker
So, so far we've only used it in the in our hazy IPA version. um But ah I am very keen to use it again in a different beer and maybe with some other hot products.
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. Are you being a bit cagey there about what other hop products you'd like to put in there? or i might Tell me about, we've talked a bit about hop pairings in this series.
00:04:31
Speaker
um I don't know if you can reveal the the other hop that you've used in that hazy or I guess where do you see Eclipse playing well with other hops? ah So I do think because with it's got this very distinctive, um Yeah, the pine flavor and the and the the very strong mandarin flavor. So I was like, I want to keep it paired with a nice and fruity hop.
00:04:58
Speaker
um I think in general, I would say it's even going pretty well with the all-time classic and super great hop Galaxy, which I haven't tried yet.
Eclipse's Unique Market Position
00:05:08
Speaker
But just so just to mention that ah it would be great with another HPA hop.
00:05:14
Speaker
um we we're working on it max we're working on it we've got we've got 033 coming out hpa 033 is our new experimental varietal that's uh we've got in the ground and it's going to be available from crop year 25 so um when's this podcast coming out may may i believe yeah like it's going to be ready in may well they better have it ready for me all right may may absolutely straight to straight to you max That's it. so But yeah, quickly back. So we did pair it with an American hop, which is the Mosaic, which also pairs very well with it because, you know, Mosaic got like that mango and also citrusy flavor and aroma profile to it.
00:06:00
Speaker
But I got to say, um the Eclipse is a lot more outstanding in in those flavors too. So I think the Mosaic just supported it very well.
00:06:12
Speaker
in the dominant hops in our beer in that beer is definitely Eclipse but in in the combination with mosaic i think it turned out pretty well with a light body light malt body in the beer to really get a nice flavor and aroma concentration and focus on the hops especially the Eclipse hops Yeah, nice one.
Effective Use of Eclipse in Brewing
00:06:38
Speaker
um I think through the course of this series, you know we've been talking about a lot of Australian hops and it it does sort seem to me that some hops kind of play that really nice supporting character for for other more dominant hops.
00:06:51
Speaker
Others are around bittering or that kind of more aroma hops and so on. I guess were where would you describe Eclipse as being, you know what's the point of difference to others on the market? Is it all about that flavour and bringing that to the fore?
00:07:08
Speaker
I think as like talking from a brewer's perspective, I think a lot of hops, I mean, we we all know that. the The hop suppliers know that the brewers know that a lot of hops because they're very, they're the same family, right? So they a lot of hops in the same family. So a lot of hops, especially American and the Australian ones, supply citrusy and and and fruity flavors.
00:07:35
Speaker
But hops like the Eclipse, they give like a very unique aroma and flavor to it with what it supplies. And this kind of lifts it up a little bit compared to other American or Australian hops. And that's kind of like why it deserves it place its place in the market.
00:07:57
Speaker
And I'm hoping that more people will use it and maybe at some point it's getting as much recognition as the Galaxy does. I guess from ah from a brewer's perspective, thinking of ah from a more technical point of view, um have you picked up any kind of tips, tricks, lessons along the way of, I guess, how to use Eclipse effectively and and to get the most sort of bang for your buck out of it ah throughout the process?
00:08:22
Speaker
I would say, as briefly mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Eclipse. When it comes to big hops, or a lot of hops, I'm a big fan of keeping the mold body light.
00:08:37
Speaker
So I do like a mold hops balance, but if I want to really focus on the hops, I want to keep the body light as it is with our Hazy IPA. And...
00:08:49
Speaker
I do find the Eclipse also works pretty well as a first word hop. You kind of give a little bit of an initiated punch before going into the whirlpool as well.
00:09:00
Speaker
And then for the dry hopping, um I don't think you can really overpower it because it's just such such a great
Eclipse's Role in Spectrum Range
00:09:09
Speaker
hop and pairs really well with a lot of other tropical or fruity hops.
00:09:13
Speaker
um So best used, I think, in start with the first ah first ferment sorry first wet edition maybe even as an active ferment hop so at day zero and then dry hop as much as you want with it within margin
00:09:34
Speaker
I love it. Fantastic. and um And maybe this is one for you, MC, but I understand Eclipse is also available in your spectrum range. Can you explain to us sort of, first of all, what is the spectrum range and and what how does that kind of differ from the traditional sort of T90 range?
00:09:54
Speaker
Sure. um The spectrum range has has has happened because brewers want other solutions. They still want the flavor, but they'd like to increase their yield. ah They'd like some some savings. So by creating a product that's 100% liquid with no vegetal matter,
00:10:13
Speaker
It allows brewers to increase their, their brew house yield essentially. um Now there are caveats, right? It's, it's really good to use, but if you want to get ah that eclipse character, spectrums work really well with pellets as well. So they're not a one for one replacement.
00:10:29
Speaker
um They, they work really well together, but yeah, spectrum, spectrum eclipse is going really well in Australia. Sorry. You haven't tried it max yet. I think we talked about it before, but it's going well over here and overseas as well.
Future Brewing Projects with Liquid Hop Products
00:10:43
Speaker
um Yeah, it's a good product. Is it something, Max, that you're interested in trying down the track, that that sort of combination of um Spectrum and tiina Yes, absolutely. So I would love to try for the next. We obviously have an MPD calendar at Filter. So um the first half year is pretty much planned out. So maybe something already comes into place and the first into the beers in the first a half year.
00:11:13
Speaker
But I definitely want to approach it in the second half of 2025. So would like to, a would love and I definitely will try to ah utilize and and do beers and brew beers with my team by using liquid hot products from HPA.
Conclusion and Further Exploration of Australian Hops
00:11:34
Speaker
I definitely want to go that way because I've never done it before and I'm really keen and interested to give it a go. Yeah, wonderful. Well, thank you so much, guys. It's been fantastic to talk about Eclipse. As I said, it's absolutely one of my standout hop varietals and I'd love to see it being used more across Australian beer.
00:11:55
Speaker
um Thank you, Max. Thank you, MC. And thank you, HPA, for supporting this series. Please tune in. We'll have more hops, more brewers all coming at you through this Aussie hop series presented by HPA. And for more info,
00:12:10
Speaker
For yourself, on the very best Australian hops, head to www.hops.com.au. Cheers.