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Behind The Scenes At The NZ Hop Harvest
338 Plays2 days ago
“The Kiwi hop industry has really focused on what flavours people are chasing in their beers.”
Demand for New Zealand’s hops has been soaring in recent years, with old varieties revitalised, new ones hitting a sweet spot in the current market, and innovative products coming thick and fast.
While in the Nelson region for the 2026 harvest, The Crafty Pint team visited a number of farms and processing facilities, recording interviews as we went. The aim was to capture a snapshot not just of this crucial time of year for growers, but also various facets of the industry.
This episode features three guests, starting with Andrew Sutherland of Oasthouse Hops, a farmer who switched from wine to hops around a decade ago. We talk terroir and timing, the intense nature of managing two farms at harvest, growing experimental hops as part of NZ Hops Bract Brewing Programme, and his love for Nelson Sauvin.
Next up is Lauren Yap, who started out brewing in Portland, Oregon, switched between wine and beer for a while, then ended up in New Zealand. These days, she leads all things quality and innovation at Clayton Hops, one of the country’s largest growers, trialling new hops on their tiny but hi-tech pilot system, assisting their sales team and brewers, and when we rocked up, fixing a forklift...
Wrapping things up is Dave Dunbar, another American who married a Kiwi and ended up in the Nelson region. He’s the CEO of Freestyle Hops, which has been at the forefront when it comes to innovation and experimentation as they seek new flavours and aromas from existing varietals, explore how different hops perform in different regions, and create their own advanced hop products.
Taken together, we hope the interviews paint a broad picture of a booming industry at its most hectic time of year.
Back in Melbourne, Will and James kick off the show with a reflection on the second half of their NZ trip as well as the latest features to land on Crafty: a deep dive into identifying flavours and aromas in your beer; a new listing for Venom Brewing Taproom on the former site of Mrs Parma’s; and the return of The 86 Tram Crafty Crawl.
We also preview some upcoming events: a cellar deep dive for Cabal members at 3 Ravens; the first ever Pint of Origin Festival Launch Party; and the return – in a new form – of the Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival.
Start of Segments
- 0:00 – The Week On Crafty
- 16:25 – Andrew Sutherland
- 32:53 – Lauren Yap
- 41:41 – Bowimi ft On Tap
- 47:33 – Dave Dunbar
To find out more about featuring on The Crafty Pint Podcast or otherwise partnering with The Crafty Pint, contact craig@craftypint.com.
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Transcript
Return from New Zealand Trip
00:00:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crafty Pint Podcast. I'm Will. I'm James um and I must explain that the reason we're not in the same room despite being in the same city it isn't because we had a big blowout after seven days away in each other's company in New Zealand. um I've returned to two sick kids and don't want to pass the risk passing the lurgy on to Will when we have another busy few days ahead up in the high country. But um yeah, how are you feeling Will? We've been back for a couple of days now since the very, very early flight back from Christchurch?
00:00:38
Speaker
Yeah, great to sleep in my own bed for a few days until we head off again, but it was a fantastic trip, wasn't it? I've been telling people we may possibly have quite a warped view of New Zealand because every day we woke up and it was just sort of 23 degrees, pure sunshine.
00:00:55
Speaker
Obviously, it's a beautiful country, but the the weather in particular put it on for us. I think so. And I think that the one day where we woke up um in Cape Fowlwind, so I suppose going wake up in ah any place, you know, that's not going to be quite perfect from the start of the day, Cape Fowlwind is probably the the place you want to be doing it. But um yeah, I mean, that that day started sort of overcast, a little bit of drizzle, but that was kind of perfect for the start of our our coastal walk by this the Seal Connolly. But yeah, it was quite remarkable. It was like low 20s and clear skies suits my, um you know, Celtic blood. And I think it kind of suits your North German roots as well. So, ah yeah, no, it was it was very,
Trip Content and Articles
00:01:32
Speaker
very pleasant. And we've we've got a few um sort of, we've done a couple of articles you can check out, like postcard from Christchurch, the postcard from Nelson. We'll be trying summarize what we got up to. can include those in the show notes. um
00:01:44
Speaker
And ah Liz has put together some jaunty TikToks and reels for um from our travels as well, making us look sort of hopefully slightly more ah proficient in the in the world of social media these days. And maybe even like we're a bit younger than we are. So you can check out those as well. But um yeah, it was a marvelous trip, but we're we're back now prepar preparing for the next one.
Crafty Crawl Update
00:02:06
Speaker
um So I guess we should get back on with ah you know what's been happening, I guess, partly while we're away, but since we got back as well. And I guess part of the reason we did the trip other than to visit the NZ Hop Harvest was 10th anniversary of your first pitch to us, pitch to me as ah as a freelancer, which was through a crafty crawl on the 86 tram. um So you've now been updating that because i guess a fair bit has changed on the 86 tram route, um probably got up in terms of craft beer offerings and potentially plateaued or come down a little bit, certainly a bit of change. So you've been ah working on that.
00:02:37
Speaker
Yeah, well, originally the the very first idea I think I had in my head when I pitched it, it was called Six on the 86 because there were six craft beer venues for the sort of, I think, the entire length of it. And now i a while after that, we split it into two parts. And now reworking, i was like, oh, maybe we'll just go for street names. So this first one, the one we have out this week is Smith and Gertrude Street, which is sort of, you know,
00:03:04
Speaker
where it sort of started and the one of the original hubs of craft beer and then we'll go further north with high street and i think also there's the option to run uh of course just in the cbd melbourne cbd as well and go to docklands too so it's a it's a three-parter now from from six venues there's now about six venues for each of those parts so a lot of good beer out there Yeah, excellent. And dave we'll make sure all of those are out before Pine of Origin comes around for when people come to town to visit our festival, hopefully come to town to visit our festival. It's going to be awesome.
Flavor Logic's Beer Tasting Guide
00:03:38
Speaker
um Also this week, we ran another piece from Bryony Liebich, also known Flavor Logic, or that's the name of her business. She's a bit of a sensory guru, a judge of many things other than beer and both here and and elsewhere. um And yeah, so she's done a number of pieces for us over the years, sort of partly...
00:03:57
Speaker
Sometimes reporting on what's happening the South Australian beer scene, but also doing some really sort of handy guides on how to taste, assess, enjoy, explore, discuss beer. um So this is kind of a follow up of sorts to how to you know has taste beer like a pro. um I certainly learned stuff while I was proofing it and putting in the back end of the website yesterday. It goes into flavor we oils. It talks about how we taste, you know, the way our bodies are wired um to pick up bitterness, um all these kinds of things. So um we'll include that in the show notes as well. So but I think she says, you know, um the more you understand about beer and the better you can sort of talk about beer and explain the flavors and aromas you're picking up, the more you will actually enjoy beer. and I think that's always been very much true. um And I think, you know,
00:04:40
Speaker
education might sound like it's like you know slightly that's what you do at school or university but I think you know the more you educate yourself about beer the more you awaken your palate and connect you know the flavors you're having with the you know receptors in your brain certainly the more you'll understand what you appreciate and don't appreciate.
00:04:57
Speaker
It's good to sort of reconnect with some of those things as well. I think no matter how long you felt you've been around beer or thinking about beer, drinking beer, talking about it, describing flavors, because I do think we fall into certain crutches. I think as writers, that's certainly true for us where we kind of probably lean on certain ah flavor descriptors and tropical fruits. I know having just been in New Zealand and eating a lot of Fejoas, I was like, that's a fruit term I don't use often enough because I don't eat Fajoras that often in Australia, but there's a lot of of hops that do bring a a flavor that is distinctly that. Whereas ah sometimes would say it's lime or lime zest mixed with tropical fruit or something like that when it's straight up Fajora actually.
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah, I think in our defense, there are ah some hop varieties these days and, you know, used in combination with other hops and particular yeasts that they do just give you pretty much, you know, probably 60 or 70% of the fruits ever grown anywhere on the planet with a bit of spice and in the same beer. And you kind of like, if we do want to pull out all of those, it's, you know, kind of a bit too much. But um yeah, it it's certainly, remember...
00:06:03
Speaker
sort of remember back to before I even started the crafty pint I was doing the BJCP um course in like home um homebrew judging and second or third week I was there it was the first time I was able to like sniff a beer and go think that's there's that sort of aroma in there or whatever and I found after that that whenever I sat down to meal or anything, I'd be like, oh, I think that flavors in there. And it was like you sort of almost had to, you know, get something connected, open up some sort of, you know, bridge between your palate and your brain. And then suddenly this whole new world open to you. um So, yeah, hopefully Brian's article for some people will be a world opening experience.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
Venom Brewing's New Taproom
00:06:47
Speaker
And also fresh on the site this week is i managed to pop into Venom Taproom. So we've put their listing live. ah Venom Brewing celebrate 11 years this year. They launched in 2015.
00:07:00
Speaker
Did it for a long time without a home at all. Contract brew around the city, which they still do, but... They've finally locked in a place and it's got a lot of craft beer heritage and the fact that it was once Mrs. Palmer's, which was a legendary craft beer venue in Melbourne CBD. It only ever stocked independent Victorian beer. And yeah, I managed to call in just before we went to New Zealand. It's a beautiful location, very old school kind of pub, has a country vibe to it. Retro, yeah, kind of bringing a slice of the country to the city, which I think Venom have kind of always done with their...
00:07:36
Speaker
tattoo design of that of a snake. I kind of always wondered if that would last, but I think it's very love it or you hate that branding and it's managed to stick around just by how how distinct it is and how much it ah the yellow sort of shocks your eyes.
00:07:53
Speaker
Yeah, well well, Joel's also joel Venom founder, Joel Drysdale, who's now got the district bottle stores as well as bandwagon beverages, distributors. He's from a country publican background. and His folks had a couple of places around the yay sort of Mansfield area. So i I guess it's no surprise that he's ended up you know taking one of the few country style venues in the city. um And so looking ahead, Venom Taproom, which I guess opened just in time for Christmas, I think they're also on on board as a part of origin host venue for 2026.
Pint of Origin Festival Plans
00:08:25
Speaker
So, um yeah, we're sort of getting closer and closer to launching the full program for this year's festival. And in fact, we are hosting our first launch party for Prine of Origin this year. We've always, i guess and initially it was part of Good Beer Week, there'd be a separate Good Beer Week launch party. Then when we took it as its own separate festival, we kind of felt we didn't want to do a launch party on the opening night because it would take people away from the the venues, which are the whole part of the festival.
00:08:49
Speaker
So we're doing this just under a month out from when pint of Origin starts on May the 15th. So mid late April, we're going to have five beers, one one from each of the five Pint of Origin crawls this year, um inviting the the venues along, the the sponsor breweries, um and some tickets available to um general public as well. And also to members of the Crafty Cabal, they get a discount. so that's on April the 21st upstairs from Auntie Pegs in the um Proud Mary sort of function space.
00:09:16
Speaker
um So we'll include the link in the show notes to buy tickets for that um and hopefully see a bunch of you there um as we get a chance to sort of talk about what we're excited about for this year's festival and just build a bit of hype early on.
00:09:28
Speaker
um And I guess um talking of the Cabal, we also have another event for Melbourne-based members next week at Three Ravens. We'll be joining Head Brewer Murray. He's taken a deep dive into their cellar and pulled out um a very wide range of their sort of barrel-aged beers, their mixed ferment stuff. We'll be getting hold of some equally interesting cheeses to go with those
Adelaide Beer and Barbecue Festival Revamp
00:09:50
Speaker
interesting beers. There's still a few spots left for that, so we'll include um a link for that as well. um And still on the event and festival front, um
00:09:58
Speaker
pleased to confirm that after they sort of teased it when I chatted to Gareth and Azo, the founders of um beer and brew and Beer and Barbecue Festival, I should say, in Adelaide for our Year in Beer SA podcast last year, they had said that the 10th Beer and Barbecue last year would be the last, at least in its current format. And they'd found it was becoming, you know, um unsustainable financially to run and They had the dates moved by Adelaide showgrounds. They did hint it might be back, and now it is. So it's moving to the drive in Adelaide, which is near Adelaide Oval, more central. um They're planning to have less breweries, a broader spread of drinks, but still the usual sort of, I guess, bold and lively offering. um So if any breweries want to be part of it, the expressions of interest are open until...
00:10:43
Speaker
Monday, I think, certainly sometime next week. And the lineup and tickets will go on sale after Easter. So I'm very excited to see it's coming back, although it is going to be when I'm in the UK visiting family. So, Will, you might to take a hit and go to the Beer and Barbecue Festival on our behalf this year.
00:10:59
Speaker
I imagine those expression of interest forms will come in pretty quick and fast as well. It's always been a very popular festival for brewers. a lot of people have always wanted to travel across and make it, ah particularly from Melbourne and Sydney. So, yeah, I don't think they'll have any issues filling those stalls.
00:11:17
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. um And I guess looking ahead, um you know, it's...
Upcoming Beechworth Trip
00:11:23
Speaker
almost a week today since we were were last in a hop field. and But we'll be be surrounded by hops again tomorrow, Will. So we'll be jumping in the car first thing tomorrow and heading up to Beechworth.
00:11:33
Speaker
Yeah, can't wait. I'll pack my hay fever as i tablets, as I found out in New Zealand. I suddenly seem to be borderline allergic to hops, which has never been an issue before. but i know we We both sort of got out the car at Freestyle Hops, our first stop, and i was like, oh, my chest feels really tight and developing a bit of a cough. And it's like, oh, yeah, we're just...
00:11:53
Speaker
everything Everything you can possibly grow was being grown in that region and because it was harvest time. like I'm sure our car still smelt of hops about three days after we'd left left the region.
00:12:04
Speaker
The thing is I've managed to go to HPA's hop farm many, many times and it's never been an issue. So I don't know if it's a new sort of reaction or something like that, or it was just the abundance of of pollen in the air that really did me in. But honestly, I will be prepared for this weekend. Looking forward to seeing a lot of people. You may be listening to this podcast on the drive up or the fly up if you you're flying your plane over or a helicopter or something like that. So it will be great to see catch up with many people in the industry there for the whole weekend of hop celebrations.
00:12:36
Speaker
Yeah. And I guess bringing it back to where we sort of started um this episode, we've turned around pretty quickly. um So while we were in New Zealand, we recorded three sort of mini podcasts um with people that three different people in different parts of the industry that we figured would give a bit of a a snapshot um of, you know, I guess the NZ hop industry, which has been enjoying a bit of a so time in the sun recently, and also a bit of a snapshot of how harvest
Mini Podcasts with Industry Figures
00:13:04
Speaker
works. So first up, there's a chat with Andrew Sutherland. He moved from um
00:13:09
Speaker
the wine industry to become a hop farmer. So he manages two farms in the Nelson region. Then we chat to Lauren Yap. She is a brewer who first started out working brewing in Portland, Oregon, and has worked sort of, anxious she worked in and out of beer and wine before ending up in New Zealand with her husband. So she's um now got a sort of quality and innovation role. Clayton Hops still allows her to play around on a little brewery. So she gives gives her,
00:13:38
Speaker
That's her sort of take on the industry, I guess a bit of an outsider's view as well. um And I guess to an extent, um well in fact, folks da Dave Dunbar, I guess, would fit in a similar category. He's married to Kiwi. um So Dave Dunbar, the last of our guests, is the um owner um at Freestyle Hop. So I think you'd spoken to a number of years ago for an article as well, Will.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah, they're a very innovative hop grower. They do some really interesting stuff and how they ah harvest at different times and then sort of blend those things together. A lot of interesting advanced hop products as well.
00:14:11
Speaker
It's always sort of fascinated me from a distance because they do come from a sort of private equity investment background and and the fact they wanted to invest into New Zealand hops at the time they did and sort of how they've done it. And we also go into how Dave sort of ended up in New Zealand, that they definitely love their life there, love of where they are and where they've found it and also their ability to work with brewers both around New Zealand, but also in in America and Australia and other parts of the world too.
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah, and I think across the three chats, you know, yes, it's about the NZ sort of hop industry, but also I think a lot of what we get from them applies to, you know, hop breeding, growing, farming, selection anywhere in the world, the challenges they face, you know, the innovations that are coming through, how they're working with brewers all over the world. um what they're looking for in hops these days um so yeah hopefully uh you'll enjoy the chat i certainly enjoyed listening back to it yesterday um and yeah i mean that's that's coming up shortly um before then will you can reach us anytime if you want by uh emailing podcast at crafterpint.com suggest some guests Let us know what you think of the show, any other formatting, things like that, or make sure you leave us a like, subscribe, review, comment, anything like that on your podcast platform.
Listener Engagement and Support
00:15:24
Speaker
It helps other people discover the show.
00:15:26
Speaker
So enjoy the conversations and we'll be right back after this. Cheers. Cheers. If you're passionate about brewing and want to take your skills to the next level, Kangen Institute's Certificate III in Food Processing, Brewing, course code FBP3012 could be for you.
00:15:45
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Andrew on Hop Farming in New Zealand
00:16:25
Speaker
Andrew, thank you so much for joining us. Happy to be here. I guess, and here is, you know, that part of the, um I guess, HopGram region where you've got a couple of farms. you want to tell us how you got got into that in first place? I guess your role within the industry?
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, so we're in Upper Moutiri at the moment on our neighbour's farm, Mack Hops, but I manage a couple of farms. one a couple of kilometers to the south of us on the same soil called oast house hops and the other on the alluvial soils in motawaka called northwood hops so makes the job really interesting to see hops growing on those two different soil types and the climate slightly different as well we've got slightly more maritime influence in motawaka and in the moot tree
00:17:14
Speaker
Slightly continental, which is controversial in a very thin island. But yeah, we definitely see different temperatures between the day and the night time different hop growth based on the soils of those two locations. So does it change the outcome of the hops within the same variety?
00:17:31
Speaker
yeah ah Yes, it potentially does. Certainly it it has an influence on when the hops start growing in the springtime. So the hops can be earlier out of the ground in the moteri site and a little bit later in Motoweika. And that can be reversed sometimes at harvest, surprisingly. So yeah, the soils have a real influence on when they're out of the ground and when they're ready to harvest. And you know, you're mentioning continental and coastal conditions and things like that. I know you're from a winemaking background. those Those can be very wine words, but how do you sort of find your way moving into hops?
00:18:06
Speaker
So growing up, um I lived in the city, was the city slicker and was encouraged to sort of leave high school and go and do a commerce degree. But I tacked on a a science degree to that with an idea that winemaking was a really appealing career, combining growing flavour in the form of the grapes and then preserving that flavour and turning it into wine.
00:18:28
Speaker
I spent about 15 years in the the wine industry and saw an opportunity to step across into hop growing it as craft brewing was really taking off. And ah my experience growing up was I never looked on the back of a beer can to see what variety of hops were in it. so I picked the perfect time as someone with great growing and winemaking experience to come into the hot growing world and really see how brewers were appreciating the nuances of different varieties and loving New Zealand's aroma hops. And so really edifying as a farmer to grow, I call it growing flavour and to see people take that and put it in a can and make it taste so good. So yeah. Did you buy it into an existing farm or you'd grown from scratch yourself? ah So I don't own, so I'm farming on behalf of a group of investors. So ah I'd still farm the farms like I own them. ah Part of the the journey I've been on is just an absolute passion for the horticulture and growing that flavour. yeah it's uh transitioning across the grapes to wine it was in a kind of professional management way but uh i don't really see myself as a lot different from my colleagues of fourth generation farmers still have very strong connection to the site and the soil and the the flavor we're growing great and how's 2026 going so far in terms of harvest Superb, maybe a little quick. I think we've had some cooler nights in the lead up to harvest in late January and early February and so probably it's meaning we won't have a long, easy tail to harvest. We need to move quite quickly and be agile as the hops mature. i think
00:20:11
Speaker
I've been really excited and our kilns smelling Nelson Savin nectar on Superdelic and ah hearing some nice feedback just from some early selections that the people have identified hops from our farms as having really good aroma and nice intensity. so Yeah, I think it's ah a very good harvest. so I'm very conscious that winemakers always say this vintage is better than the last vintage forever. um But I sincerely think that the aromas we're getting this year could be very special. And when you say it's been a quick harvest and i one of your and fellow panelists there, before we sat there down here, was saying he's had like one hour sleep and in three hours sleep. is Is that a byproduct of ah of a quick harvest that yeah you have to be on the whole time? It certainly is very intense. brit Brent's ah famous for not not sleeping. I'm not sure that it's an essential part of ah harvest harvest. Just him. He might just like to brag about it.
00:21:11
Speaker
ah But yeah, you know, it's intense. We're we're we're approaching, we we may be done harvest on both of the farms within the next four to five days. A lot of the people that are at the front edge of the harvest, hooking the vines at the front of the shed, out in the gardens, cutting the hops and bringing them, are pretty tired. So we're pretty mindful. It's been quick, but it's intense physical work. So we've got to be a little bit careful about resting them up. so even though we're nearly at the end, we may not push on through. We may take a day or two, rest them up, and we're still comfortable that we'll get to our hops in really good condition. We're very pleased that ah the cone colour is still green, taking on a slightly yellow hue in some places, but very little browning. So i think we're we're just right on the mark of picking hops at the right time this year. And what does a typical day look like for you at this time of year?
00:22:06
Speaker
ah you know with within your role with those two farms? ah So I'm potentially awake sometime around 5am. So I'm not quite as good at dean at not sleeping, but i'll I'll be up and I'm kind of thinking um about two, three days ahead. It's my quiet time of day. I'll get up, have a cup of coffee, sit in my chair, look at some data from the previous day's harvest with New Zealand hops, provide feedback to us on our our maturity and quality. So I'm kind of reflecting on that, thinking where we might accelerate or where we can afford to slow down in our harvest pace.
00:22:41
Speaker
Then i begin the day. I live on one of the farms, so I'll begin the day there checking in with the people, making sure things are going to plan, and then move in the afternoon to the second farm. and In between that, problem solve things that are going wrong. Harvests that are full of interesting challenges around people and machinery. we we ah We do this for three weeks a year, so the machinery gets used very intensely and we we hope that we maintain it right, but it doesn't always go according to plan. And a little bit there' similar hiring people to work the harvest. they
00:23:19
Speaker
We've got a number of backpackers this year. They come with a lot of enthusiasm to be involved in harvesting hops for beer. And they all ah put hand on heart that they're they're really hardworking people with high fitness and high stamina. And I think sometimes the intensity of hop harvest surprises them a little bit. So yeah, it's sort of it's it's planning several days ahead. It's thinking about what's going on currently.
00:23:44
Speaker
And it's trying to keep the wheels on. Literally, yeah. And I believe you're chair of the growers committee as well. well what What sort of is that and how does that role work within EZ Hops?
00:23:56
Speaker
So New Zealand Hops have a grower committee. There's six or seven of us on that committee. So four or five growers and a couple of the people from the executive. George Tunstall joins us as the supply manager for New Zealand Hops. So we spend a fair bit of time looking at the inputs behind Hopmark, so continuously improving those standards and reviewing the the processes, compliance, so driving forward quality and sustainability all the time. we're also we We touch on the research of new hock development, although there is a more specialised subcommittee that is more dedicated to that, but the grower committee is is aware of what's coming through and having some input to that. We're also hearing back on ah feedback from brewers as well through the BRAC programme.
00:24:53
Speaker
It's partly to to consider growers' concerns and ah be a ah ah communication to and from New Zealand hops, but also I would put it sort of continuous improvement around ah our grower practices that we're we're sharing knowledge and looking at ways to to enhance and improve on what we do.
00:25:15
Speaker
And you mentioned when when you were talking to the panel about potentially back to climate change. And also, there's been a particularly good harvest. I guess not not all years the same. like How do you mitigate against maybe inclement conditions at any any time you' know in the growing season?
00:25:33
Speaker
uh sort of being ready for it and expecting it i guess and agility is kind of the the cornerstone of that so again you can sit and and plan what your year is going to be like in coming out of winter july august uh and really you can do the fundamentals you can recruit your staff and make sure you're training the hops at the right time and as an as a side This year, i think training data has had a huge influence on our yield and some of our maturity where ah hops that have been trained later, we ah suspect we had slightly cooler conditions that weren't really obvious in November and December. So varieties where we trained ah late didn't necessarily make it to the top wire as early, haven't set the same
00:26:23
Speaker
volume of crop. So this may have had an impact on yield, but it's also there may be some serendipity in that where there's more light come through the canopy down closer to the ground. So we've set a little more crop lower and maybe that sunlight is creating a more even aroma profile rather than the sun just hitting the hot cones at the top of the canopy. It's penetrating down, providing warmth and energy for the ripening, the chemistry and the hot cones. So Yeah, you you have ah you have ah a skeleton, ah a backbone of a plan. We need to do this at this time.
00:26:59
Speaker
Then we need to be attentive to how much water we need to give them as we reach early December and through into January. little bit of nutrition. uh and then really uh planning harvest execution so when they're ready to be picked we're we're there and ready to take them we're starting blocks from you mid-feb yeah yeah we're we're preparing ah you know every farm's a little bit different as to how well they're organized or whether they're up at uh 1am the night before harvest putting the finishing touches on things but yeah yeah you sort of really
00:27:32
Speaker
probably from mid-December planning and preparing putting hot belts back into hop pickers and starting the cleaning process and then the real intensity late January into February. We're often starting harvest the last week of February and we've got to have our New Zealand hops pre-harvest audits to get clearance to start picking in terms of ah cleanliness and presentation of the hot equipment. So yeah, it's sort of, you have a little bit of a rest at Christmas time and you know, then it's sort of not a super long summer holiday. It's really yeah look forward, I find as a hot cry, I look forward to my autumn holiday more than my summer holiday. Yeah, the work's done then. And how do you plan longer term? You know, in Australia, we, there's a lot of brewers very interested in New Zealand hops, but they also want new varieties often.
Hop Varieties and Market Demand
00:28:23
Speaker
you've got the BRACT program, which is experimental. how are you sort of, you know, working out what rhizomes stay in and where you plant things? Is that something you're considering every year or? How's it working for you? Yeah, I guess, at one end of the chain with New Zealand Hops and the New Zealand Hops Research Committee in the middle and and liaising with brewers. So there's there's a real pipeline. It's one of the real assets of the cooperative that no small supplier grower could individually be developing and there's a very long history there in developing those those varieties. So again, I'd put it down to sort of agility. We're growing the varieties we understand the market wants and in picking them in the windows they want. But when a new variety comes through,
00:29:14
Speaker
And if the market's ready for it, it's it's always exciting to take an older variety out. yeah In my 10 years I've been here, we've transitioned away from 50% growth.
00:29:30
Speaker
ah bittering hops into primarily aroma hops so that's been a change and now we're starting to swap out some of the older aroma hops for the newer aroma hops so we're growing super delicate nectar on on both farms we're part of the trial program for bract in small half hectare lots of the next new varieties which are yet unnamed So yeah, it's it's working with that research program, events like this where we get brewers from all around the world who are coming and smelling and sniffing and telling us what they think and that kind of helps inform where where we're going.
00:30:06
Speaker
And I know you mentioned before that when you got into hop farming, you you'd never pick up a can and see what hop varieties were in a particular beer, 10 years on, do you have a favourite New Zealand hop variety now? ah Well, i i I like Nelson Savin. i that One of the farms that I manage is 50% Nelson Savin, which is um probably a reflection of how much I enjoy growing it. a can i mean I missed that email saying we should cut back on Nelson Savin this year. ah Yeah.
00:30:37
Speaker
so and i yeah I guess I like it with my winemaking eye in that it from early harvest, i see potential for it to show interesting characters as an individual lot from early pick that hops through to an individual lot uh picked from late hops so it stimulates my kind of winemaking background where New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc you might pick early and it has a herbaceous uh capsicum sort of grassy character and and late picks uh Sauvignon Blanc is more thio passion fruity and I see that potential in that particular hop but gosh it's you know no favorites it's like your children really so you know nectar on and super delica uh new varieties that are looking really really solid they're not just varieties that have been introduced with a clear point of difference i think they're they're very strong candidates so yeah that's part of the stimulation of growing ah that that flavor
00:31:34
Speaker
and it being variety based is that you you learn the nuances of each new variety and try to maximize the job the quality of the job you're doing get the best out of it wonderful well andrew thanks for joining us we'll let you go back and chat some of those brewers and let them tell you how much they love nelson so um development look forward to it it's nice to get the feedback cheers cheers G'day Crafty Pint listeners, it's Guy Greenstone here from Stomping Ground Brewing Company and I'm just jumping in here to say that today is your final chance to join me as an owner of one of Melbourne's favourite breweries.
00:32:07
Speaker
We're really proud of the business, the team and the community we've built over the last decade. We've got big plans for the future including new venues in Melbourne and Regional Vic, more partnerships with the events and causes that matter to Melburnians and more good beer in eskies, bars and fridges across the state.
00:32:24
Speaker
We're inviting you to join us on that journey. As an owner, you'll hold real shares in our business and you'll play a role in shaping important decisions. We'll take you behind the scenes and give you a real taste of what running a brewery looks like.
00:32:35
Speaker
And there are going to be heaps of perks and fun along the way. Check it out at onmarket.com.au. It all closes midnight Thursday the 26th of March. Community built, community owned, join the stomping ground journey today. Always consider the CSF risk warning and offer document before investing.
Lauren's Brewing Innovation at Clayton Hops
00:32:54
Speaker
Lauren, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Thank you for having me. No worries. It's a pleasure to be here at Clayton Hops. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to be working here? Yeah. um I am a brewer by trade um and have been working in the beer industry as long as I've been out of university for the most part. um My background's a little bit in hops. I worked for a hop breeder out of the US, straight out of university, um and then went straight into beer um i have been in new zealand for seven years now and have been working in the hop industry since and whereabouts were you brewing in the states um out of portland oregon so yeah yeah at the time yeah a pretty good mac but you good quick christening into the into the beer industry yeah exactly and yeah what what brought you to new zealand then
00:33:40
Speaker
I actually had flopped quite a bit um between beer and wine. So I was kind of going all over the world working vintages um and came down to New Zealand and met my husband. And then, yeah, here we are seven years later. they are Yeah.
00:33:55
Speaker
And what do you do at Clayton Hop? Like what's sort of day to day? And my title is pretty messy, but as is everyone's here at a small company, um I do quality innovation and then I kind of help the sales team with the technical side of everything. And just because I'm here on the ground.
00:34:11
Speaker
So, yeah. ah So you're not doing direct sales, your kind of sales support yeah if they have any questions for you. Yeah, we've grown over the years. At the very start, it was a lot of direct sales and then it's kind of eased into helping our sales guys wherever they need it.
00:34:24
Speaker
So, yeah. And we spotted a little brewery on site here. Is that your that your domain? Yep. Yep. I did the the choosing of that, which is fun. um That went in. That was kind of one of the first pieces of kit for our innovation site over there. and It's a one barrel SS system. It's totally over engineered, which is awesome. It mimics a lot of our customer systems. Um, yeah, it's our little innovation plant that we make hop waters and for the most part, just a basic pale ale to compare our products on. Um, all of our new products go on there first before they ah go out into the world. Yeah. Right. So same pale ale sort of, but it's like, we've got this new trial hop. That's interesting. Let's run it through, see how it tastes in a beer. Yeah, exactly. um
00:35:07
Speaker
Yeah. ah Would you play around with other variables in there as well? go How does it play with this type of yeast or what have you? Yeah, we've um we've started working with a yeast company. So yeah, a lot of yeast have gone in to try and be like, um mostly to validate things we already have heard from the market a little bit and we want to put down on paper. um Our sales guys have also been in the beer industry forever and they they want to know some of the technical attributes of our hops with those yeast. So um yeah, it's a really good tool for us to have.
00:35:38
Speaker
And what's your role at harvest time? is it i know When we got here about, what, 20 minutes ago, you were fixing ah a forklift, so I'm assuming it's fairly all-encompassing. Yes. and i wear a lot of hats. Again, a lot of us do here. um i run production planning, so our T90 machine is running full full throttle at the moment. um I oversee the oil team as well because I kind of nerded out on that at for a couple of years, so I know all the like little tricks with it. um And then, yeah lots of talking to brewers and taking them through selections, which is the really fun part.
00:36:16
Speaker
And what sort of involvement would you have had in the development of Rhapsody, that was officially launched this week, and with the Amplifier products as well? Are you heavily involved in the development of those or more the trials of them?
00:36:29
Speaker
um Heaps to do with those, which is ah really, really fun. and So yeah, we work with Plant and Food Research, which is now, sorry, named um BSI, um on those varieties. And yeah, we pretty much didn't even um have the concrete laid over at our production facility. We started working with them, got to see all the varieties we thought we we were prepared to start moving forward with. And Rhapsody just stood out so quick. um And we ah pretty quick in the first year that we were growing it, we were like, agronomics are there, flavor and aroma is there. We sent it to a lab in France to get thial tested. And it was off the truck. Literally, the lab called me and they were like, You broke your machine. They were like, this is 20 times higher than any hop we've ever run. Are you sure? i was like, that's great news. ah and So yeah, we were just like, it's got a real edge. Lots of brewers got really behind it, smelling it and tasting it blind. um And we all loved it. So that counts for something.
00:37:33
Speaker
And what about on the sort of advanced hot product, like Amplify, like um what's it like seeing those come to life or bring them to life as well? That's really cool. um The way we've kind of managed it is um to date, lots of brewers have come to us and said, we need this solution. We are having issues with this or we want to see your product like this.
00:37:53
Speaker
Can we do that? And it's really cool working for a company and a team um that says, yeah, of course. They always say yes, um which is... makes it really fun and that we get to kind of figure out how to do that and problem solve and you guys are probably aware brewers are really big problem solvers and so yeah um and in terms of and I guess working with brewers with these new products because I guess some people wouldn't have used oils before or yeah um I guess most to have now yeah but I guess it's a kind of new I guess in the frontier of you know hop technologies so how do you work you do it directly with brewers yourself or feeding stuff through the sales team We, um it's kind of a combination. um Again, it's really handy that all of our sales team are really smart beer technical people, you know. and But we do a lot of support. um
00:38:44
Speaker
When we first came out to the market with amplifier um oils, there were so many questions on dose rate and how do I put this in a beer? and Lots of burrs had never used these like liquid advanced hot products. and But that seems to be changing. Most brewers you talk to kind of will go, I know where I want to use this. Is that right? And you get to say, yeah, we can work together and um here's how you replace it with this other liquid hot product or, you know, vice versa, T90s or amplifier pellets as well. Yeah.
00:39:16
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, we've talked um to a few people this week, probably yourself the other night as well about how, I guess, in Australia, but other places, New new Zealand hops have this incredible reputation reputation at the minute, last two or three years kind going like that. do you think that's sustainable? you know, is there enough acreage out there? Is there enough, you know, new sort of products coming through to sustain that that interest?
00:39:37
Speaker
I think so. um i Coming from the US when I came to New Zealand about seven years ago, um i had been using New Zealand varieties and was like, these varieties rock, you know? And so when I landed here and everyone was like, yeah, the industry's just been chucking away. It's been pretty happy. And then there was a boom, you know, like kiwis are so innovative and... um there is land here and um our farm specifically we have quite a bit of wiggle room to develop and plant. and So I can't imagine it's going anywhere. I think the trends are not just trends. I think they're flavors that and the kiwi hop industry has really focused on the gaps in the markets all over the world and what flavors are people actually chasing in their beers and we're kind of filling that. So.
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah. And having looked around the processing plant as well, like that could take a lot more hops in, right? Huge. Yeah. Really build that for the future. Yeah. something That is like state of the art. Um, the Clayton family actually didn't look at the New Zealand industry. They went to the U S and looked at what was going on over there and scale is massive in the U S and they said, okay, well, why can't we have that here? And that's what that represents is, well, we're putting some, some, uh,
00:40:50
Speaker
Yeah, some gumption behind these farms. bit future-proofing, yeah. Yeah, exactly. And talking in the future, now that Rhapsody is officially out there, i um the first Amplify products are out there. What's next for the for Clayton or for yourself, Clayton?
00:41:05
Speaker
ah We're probably going to ride the Rhapsody high for a while. um It's pretty exciting to have a new variety that we're all really excited by. um But we're always innovating. um We might come out with new liquid products. um We've done a lot of changes on our machine throughout the down season this year to try and fine tune and see what else it's capable of. um Yeah, stay tuned.
00:41:30
Speaker
Yeah. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, of course. Thank you for having And hopefully there's no more machines requiring fixing it. Maybe. um Awesome. Thank
00:41:46
Speaker
Boemi is the all-in-one field sales software solution used by many of the world's leading drinks brands. And now they've taken that offering one step further here in Australia by integrating with ONTAP data. Here to tell me more about it and what this can do for your sales teams is Liz Gant from ONTAP. Liz, welcome.
00:42:06
Speaker
Hi, how are you? Good. Thank you for joining me, mate. We're we're here to talk about this this fantastic integration. But first of all, set the scene. Give me the ONTAP story in a nutshell. Who are you guys and and what do you do?
00:42:19
Speaker
Gosh, we've been around for about 31 years now.
00:42:25
Speaker
25 of which has been dealing with suppliers, with the many, many liquor suppliers in ah Australia. We started doing group data, so for retail buying groups, and then that just gradually progressed into the into the supply world and processing and warehouse data. So all of your all of your warehouses, ALM, Liquid Mix, Paramount Liquor, ILG, Bid Foods, we bring
00:42:59
Speaker
the consolidate all of that data into one clear world. So we've got an outlet file and a liquor file and we present it to our suppliers or our clients in a clean, consolidated view. So basically we just take all of the dirty work out of reporting and make life a lot easier and a lot more simple for our clients.
00:43:24
Speaker
So taking all these mysterious streams of data and and turning into something. Yeah, specialising claims and remittance processing as well. Just anything that isn't fun to do. um we We love it.
00:43:38
Speaker
Well, mate, one of the big challenges I think that that you guys probably solve and that breweries face is they're often selling their beer via these third-party marketplaces like ALM or Paramount, as you mentioned.
00:43:49
Speaker
But in that process, they're losing that visibility over, I guess, what's then being sold to the final bottle shop or bar. They know where it's going. Yeah, so how does, I guess, this ONTAP and Bohemi integration sort of solve that problem? Yeah, well, we break it down to invoice-level data and we track where exactly where that product goes once it's been sold into the warehouse. So we can we can then clearly show these suppliers exactly which venues are purchasing, how much they're purchasing, which um warehouses they're purchasing from, if it's multiple, and you'll be able to see that
00:44:31
Speaker
you We can also allocate the salesperson to the territory um and then we feed it into Bohemi at that invoice level and they can see before they go in there, their reps can see who's purchasing what from where. So they they're educated before they go in there. So they'll know, okay, this venue's purchased from ALM last time, but they also purchased from Paramount too. I can tell them where they'll get the best deal at the moment. You know, um I can see if they're, so as a sales rep, I can see if they're adhering to their contracts in the Bohemi platform. That's something i haven't seen anybody else do yet. You can say, okay, like they've purchased
00:45:15
Speaker
eight kegs this week they're supposed purchased 12 just go in there and say hey do you need any promotional material how can I help you to push more volume and that's um Yeah, that's the beauty of Bohemi and the relationship that we've got with them.
00:45:34
Speaker
We're able to just improve life but for our clients at both ends. I think, as you say, it's sort of giving the the reps on the ground information that will, you know, allow them to have those informed conversations with their customers directly. Yeah, and they just know where to go and they're they're going to the right places. They're not wasting time going to... you know, the the some of the venues that are purchasing small volume or haven't purchased in the last six weeks, they've got all of that visibility there and they can they can plan and um probably make a lot more money. if If you had to sum it up, I guess, what would you say the are the the most important benefits to a Boomi customer with this integration of field sales and actionable sales data? I think it's the the contract, the contract, um,
00:46:23
Speaker
piece is really key and because you can push, you can say, well, you've got these discounts there. they They won't continue if you're not adhering to your contract. I think as well, lost sales. So if you know, if you've got the visibility in our world that you're you haven't, a venue hasn't actually got the stock from a particular warehouse that they ordered, they can then go in and say, hey, we've got the stock in Paramount Liquor, you can you can get it there. I'll load the pricing in and they're just on that front foot. So that's just, yeah, it's an amazing feature that Bohemi can offer.
00:47:04
Speaker
Amazing. Well, thank you so much, Liz. and And guys, brewers, what are you waiting for? If you're looking for the best solution to turbocharge your sales teams with a data-driven solution, book a demo today at bohemi.com forward slash crafty hyphen pint. I believe they've got a special at the moment with 50% off your onboarding fee. So check it out.
00:47:25
Speaker
Cheers. Thank you, Liz. No problem.
Freestyle Hops' Innovative Journey
00:47:33
Speaker
Dave, thank you for joining us. Yeah, yeah, no, it's fantastic to be here. For those who don't know, do you want to tell us a little bit about the backstory of Freestyle Hops? Yeah, yeah, so I guess yeah this is our 10th year now of growing hops in Sunrise Valley here just outside of Nelson. um And yeah, I guess the story originally started with, the well, the apocryphal... origin story is that a self-proclaimed beer Jesus told us we should do this which is sort of true um no uh I guess uh originally i was ah slightly put on to this by um Greg Cook of Stone Brewing who uh yeah did hold himself out to be beer Jesus and it was a place that was pretty uh outspoken about a lot of things yeah yeah and they were never shot with his opinion yeah um
00:48:25
Speaker
And I think, you know, I was chatting to Greg one day in San Diego and I ah told him I'd just come back from holiday here in Nelson. And, you know, my wife is a Kiwi. We often come here. It's a beautiful spot. Definitely a pretty pretty nice place to be. um And Greg was like, oh, you know what?
00:48:48
Speaker
You should look in into hops there. i i I love Nelson Solvin. I wish I could get more. I wish I could choose lots like a can with American hops. It just sort of like stuck in my head.
00:49:03
Speaker
was like, oh, that's that's pretty interesting. and The investment company I was working for was interested in doing sort of different things, things in the specialty ag space.
00:49:18
Speaker
And a bit later, um Greg's more, how do I say this, conventional business partners and brewer Steve Wagner, um told me that he was coming down here for a hot harvest. And so I came down here with Steve and kind of had a look around and was like, oh this is pretty interesting. um I couldn't quite sort of figure it out, but there definitely just seemed like there is this sort of strange opportunity where you had some farms like this one, um which we eventually purchased, which was effectively sort of shut down almost to some degree. are You were saying there was cows roaming, you know, the paddocks. Yeah, they had like cows under, you know, cows and sheep grazing under a bunch of the canopy. a bit was leased out to another grower. um
00:50:11
Speaker
And, you know, it it just seemed like, okay, this is sort of interesting in that there's on one hand brewers who seem like desperate to get their hands on some of this and on the other hand you know growers and and farms and things which just you know seem like they were not doing very well or or in this case like the farm was up for sale um and so just sort of ah sparked our interest and we dug in and kind of like oh this is this is pretty interesting um you know like there seems like there's actually you know really serious interest in the hops that are being grown here.
00:50:51
Speaker
And that kind of led us to say, well, look, this this place is for sale. Let's let's have a go and see if we can yeah make it work. um And pretty small ambitions at the start. like We certainly didn't intend what we have now. it's it's definitely evolved and grown over time. But yeah, it was sort of like, okay, well, let's you know try to make the best Nelson Solon we possibly can and go from there.
00:51:17
Speaker
And what what what did the other sort of existing growers make of it when, you know, you moved in and took her over this farm and, you know, started doing what you do? Yeah. I mean, I think there's a bit of just like people being sort of mystified when we went in. Cause like at the time, generally like the industry didn't seem like it was a very good one here. Okay. um And then I think also, you know, um,
00:51:44
Speaker
You kind of got to look at like the history of it. like So much of the history was selling to these big multinationals. And you know we were setting out to do something completely different. And I think you know some of those old school growers, in many cases, thought craft beer was a fad.
00:52:02
Speaker
um It was just going to go away. Or they're just not customers that are worth serving or like it would you know's silly to try to sort of work with them or they're just these little like annoying businesses. um And so I think you know there was a fair bit of that as well. Just like people not understanding the craft beer space and and sort of either discounting it or not sort of seeing it as a viable you know place to sell our products.
00:52:34
Speaker
so And did you see, you know, did you think, well, we'll do this and this is for American craft brewers? Or did you think like it New Zealand brewers would be on to you soon and Australia or like, has that changed? I guess so.
00:52:47
Speaker
Yeah. to At the start, it was sort of very simplistic of like, okay, we'll try to sell to like Kiwi craft brewers and, we know that's not like a big enough market so we need to export to somewhere or we know a heap of craft brewers in california will export to like them first and like that was like literally like the basic starting point and then from there pretty quickly we were like okay let's just try to like slowly keep expanding what we're doing and really for us the goal was like to work with great craft brewers wherever they were and we felt like
00:53:24
Speaker
There's sort of two reasons. One, hopefully, like, really good craft brewers would appreciate what we're doing. And they would appreciate, like, the care and the effort and the the flavor and aroma that we're producing. And then also, they were the best people in terms of giving us feedback and, like, improving what we were doing, finding the like, edges and the places where things were just, like, a little bit better, a little bit nicer. um so also, it was, like, a bit of a strategy to help us to continue to like grow and evolve and improve what we're doing because those people were so good at giving us like really clear usable actionable feedback yeah um and was part of that feedback you know new varieties new hot products because it feels like from the outside, that was when I really started to notice freestyle likes and new interesting stuff coming on. Like, did that become a part of what you were doing pretty quickly and directly off that, those conversations? Yeah, to some degree, although um
00:54:27
Speaker
not that much, I would say, early on. I mean, very much, yeah even today, so much of, you know, interest from the start and now has been aimed at...
00:54:42
Speaker
getting consistent really really good lots um you know so many of the breweries that we work with that's what they want out of us is to for us to consistently year after year deliver the best possible version of model wake the best possible version of ray walker and that i think was the main focus for us for ages.
00:55:05
Speaker
We did recognize early on that ultimately, we were going to want to keep developing new things. And so we did start pretty early on a breeding program. But that was,
00:55:21
Speaker
i say mostly driven by the fact that we knew a breeding program would take a very long time to turn out anything. So we were kind of like, oh, crap, we better start now because, you know, this is going to best be six, seven, eight years before we have anything to show for it. so I think that was a little bit of the early on motivation as well to like start working on new things. It's like, oh yeah, okay. If we don't start now, then it's gonna really be like yeah two forevers before we have anything to show for this. So yeah, but I think, yeah, most of it early on was just really like make the best possible version of of what we have.
00:56:03
Speaker
And have you gone about developing some of those new advanced products and at Freestyle? i think Often, so like two things, breeding side is just pretty straightforward, plant breeding. It's like searching for really exciting things, yeah know creating heaps and heaps seedlings and screening through them.
00:56:21
Speaker
That one, in a sense, is straightforward, although i guess identifying exciting is a little tricky. um And then with the other things, like our Sub-Zero Hop Keef,
00:56:32
Speaker
um They were a bit driven by us having ideas that we wanted to bring to fruition. like that That sort of was driven by an original desire of like, what if you could have like a liquid dry hop?
00:56:47
Speaker
That would be amazing. And us exploring that space for years and just not finding... an answer that we liked and we just kind of kept going and kept going and kept going and ultimately found something that we were happy with and we're like oh yeah this is like does what we wanted um and and i think yeah with a lot of what we do it's sort of born out of yeah collaborating with these various breweries who are like hey what about like this or this would be interesting or it'd be amazing if this existed or like i'm thinking about doing this and they just sort of lead to then other ideas and yeah i think that's sort of a you know organic yeah
00:57:32
Speaker
And in terms of the lots, like, uh, you know, when you say people want really good, consistent lots of brewers coming to you with sort of, you know, types of Nelson's have on they want, or is it like, like early versus of late harvest and do people have preferences? Yeah, yeah. So, i mean, different breweries, I mean, they're going to be, in some cases, like, you know, it'll be going into a core beer and they'll have, like, a very specific idea of what they want. Like, I want super tropical Nelson Solvin. I don't care if the citrus notes are, like, a little subdued, but i just want, like, mega tropical. Mm-hmm. um and then maybe in you know another brewery it's like i want the most sort of like beautiful expression of like soft blankey like you know brightness and our job is to deliver those things early on it was to figure out how to consistently get those things i think and and the variance there would be
00:58:33
Speaker
the lot or the the picking period or whatever. And now you know where and when to pick for certain things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And um like for us, it's all driven by field sensory. um We think that's the only reliable way to hit the same, you know, consistent aroma, flavor outcomes that we want.
00:58:55
Speaker
um And that's working with a bunch of these brewers over many years and figuring out, ah okay, this is what we need to be targeting in the field to get this outcome in T90s.
00:59:10
Speaker
And some of that is pretty broad. Like if you want you know super tropical Nelson Solvin, it's not going to happen on the early end. um And then some of it is like really chasing kind of specific character.
00:59:25
Speaker
And making sure in some cases that we're just, you know, waiting on certain blocks until they get to a place that we need them to. or you know, in other cases, we'll do things with like how we train the hops, how we fertilize them, when we cut off water, to try to like you know get them to that flavor and aroma outcome that we're looking for and and for us here we we have a huge array of brewers that get lot selection the prior year's lot selection is pretty informative for us of like what we should be doing this year so we know oh yeah hey like 30 of our crop should be or nelson solvents should be super tropical
01:00:09
Speaker
15 of it should be like as bright and whiny as possible and you know the remainder should be like a really well balanced passion free in the middle um and and that's most of what we're sort of doing through harvest here right now is like matching what brewers want with what we do in the field and you've got a second farm now further south you can tell us about that and so the different characters and the different i guess outcomes you're getting some of the hot varieties down there Yeah, yeah so we have a second farm ah just just to the i guess just to the west of Nelson Lakes National Park, which is about 75 to 100 south of here. um
01:00:49
Speaker
It is higher altitude, it's further inland, it's got colder nights, it's got hotter days. um And those have different effects on some of the varietals. Some of the varietals have quite different character there. Some of them have very similar character. It just varies varie to to varietal by varietal.
01:01:09
Speaker
um For Nelson Solvin down there, it's definitely much, much easier for us to generate sweet tropical character. so things like sweet mango, um those types of, of ah not sort of brighter citrusy or tropical, but like deep sweet.
01:01:35
Speaker
And so for us thinking about managing our overall harvest, we're going to be trying to generate more of that character there, both because it's easier to do and there is a heap of demand in that space. yeah you know That's what people are asking of us. so And then other varietals, sort of um similar types of things. Maybe Uriwaka is, yeah, just like a a in a similar vein. it's It's got a little more sort of tropical...
01:02:10
Speaker
and maybe hint of solvent-y character down there, whereas here we tend to be a little like more bright exotic citrus in our uriwaka. So you know sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's sit's significant. um But yeah, I think overall it helps us to get like a a broader palette water yeah yeah yeah and and sort of achieve in some cases like more of an outcome than would otherwise be possible here because i mean we can only put so much through our machine in our kilns at one time cool and i mean what's next and what's on the horizon for freestyle anything yeah exciting in the works
01:02:51
Speaker
I think probably mostly on the exciting front is new varietals. So we have quite a few things that are really close to bigger releases where we've got heap of plants in the nursery that are going to start generating more volume. So we've got a couple experimental varietals that we're really excited about. You've been to the slice.
01:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, like there's sort of, ah yeah, some pretty sort of unusual um different character with some of these like super sweet tropical um and then a few things that are just um perform really well in finished beer on the dry hop side. So, yeah, probably that's the the biggest thing coming from us. We'll continue to expand the offerings that we have of our Sub-Zero Hop Keefe extract. Just spreading that now to all the varietals that we grow. And I think kind of hopefully continuing to work on optimizing our process a little bit. So yeah, we hope to sort of continue to find little bits of improvement here and there.
01:03:58
Speaker
Great, well, Dave, thank you so much for joining us. that was fantastic. Cheers. Thanks for having me out of the farm. It's been awesome. Yeah. It's super fun, so. Yeah, thank you. We love how beer brings people together, and that's really what The Crafty Cabal is all about.
01:04:14
Speaker
It's a community of beer lovers who love discovering great breweries, supporting the people behind them, and sharing a few good pints along the way. For just $99 a year, Cabal members get access to a stack of perks, some of Australia's best breweries, venues and bottle shops, plus invites to exclusive events. And 2026 is already looking mighty fine.
01:04:36
Speaker
Feb 12, get to know Shaw Brewing as they take you through a private tasting in the private dining room. at the Sporting Club Hotel Brunswick. Feb 14, future brewing are heading to Benchwarmor in North Melbourne for an exclusive Cabal event to celebrate their sixth birthday.
01:04:54
Speaker
Feb 22 joined James from the Crafty Pine at Wildflower in Marrickville as he hosts the Theatre of Beer featuring Wildflower and Garage Project. Plus we have double passes to give away for the Canberra Beer and Sardar Festival, and cases of Colgate's new release Sour AF Up for Grabs.
01:05:13
Speaker
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01:05:25
Speaker
To find out more and to become a part of the Crafty Cabal, head to craftycabal.com. The Crafty Pint podcast is produced and edited by Matt Hoffman. You can get all your beer-related news and reviews on the Crafty Pint website, craftypint.com, and can stay up-to-date on future podcast episodes via our socials.
01:05:45
Speaker
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01:06:01
Speaker
And if you're a beer lover who'd like to support what we do, you can join our exclusive club for beer lovers, The Crafty Cabal. Visit craftycabal.com for more. And until next time, drink good beer.