Australia: Hops harvest down. Only six hops producers left in Victoria

A smaller crop yield will mean hops producers in Victoria get to enjoy an after work beer a little earlier this year.

The harvest started a week ago, and growers say despite a hot summer, leaf quality is good. Many Australians would call this the most important three weeks of the year -- the hop-picking season.

But manager of Victoria's largest hops garden, Graham Hughes says not as much is being produced. "We're down to very few growers left in Victoria regrettably, there's only about six growers left and we're the biggest by far," he said. "The situation is that yes, we're learning to produce more off the same area but at the same time the brewers have learned to use hops more efficiently and really have managed to reduce their demand even though beer production maybe increasing."

Yesterday, 90 workers in the Derwent Valley were frantically picking the key ingredient for Australia's iconic beverage -- beer. Hop harvesting has been mechanised for the past eight years, but yesterday pickers revived the skills used in the Bushy Park hop fields stretching back 150 years and picked the vines by hand.

Workers wearing long sleeves and gloves to protect against the thorny vines climbed 5m up ladders to cut hops with machetes. Only vines in a trial planting of three new hop varieties were picked by hand.

These hops, the first to be harvested this season, will be brewed fresh to conserve their flavour and aroma in Cascade Brewery's First Harvest Ale. This is the fifth year First Harvest Ale has been brewed -- using hops so fresh and green, they arrive at the Hobart brewery only two hours after being picked.

Cascade master brewer Max Burslem said using fresh hops resulted in a unique beer. "Beer that is brewed with fresh hops is fairly aromatic and has a strong character," he said. "There is more complexity in aroma and flavour than a beer brewed with dried hops, because some of the flavours and aromas are lost from the hops during the drying process."

The new hop varieties are the result of eight years of breeding at Hop Products Australia's Bushy Park hop fields. The variety Ember provides bitterness in the beer, Nova is used for flavour and Galaxy for aroma. Galaxy is added during the last 60 seconds of the boiling period of the brewing process to prevent the aroma from being boiled away.

Mr Burslem said many of the 3000 cartons of First Harvest Ale, which will be released next month, had been pre-ordered, with most heading interstate. Demand for hop cones has slackened with the increasing popularity of pale, not-so-bitter beers, which use less hops.

Hop Products Australia sold its farm at Scottsdale in 2004. It will harvest its last crop of hops from its Gunns Plains' 80ha farm this year. Hop Products Australia Bushy Park manager Phipps Onslow said the future of the Bushy Park hop fields was secure and this season's 180ha might be increased in 2007.

From March 19 to 24, Hobart hosts the 29th convention of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, Asia Pacific Section.

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