Hops

Buying hops in Australia

Hops do three jobs in a beer, and when you add them decides which one you get. Early in the boil they give bitterness. Late in the boil they give flavour. After the boil, or dry into the fermenter, they give aroma. The same hop can do all three, which is why variety choice matters less than most brewers think and timing matters more. Our guide to brewing beer at home covers where those additions sit in a brew day.

Everything here is pellets rather than flowers. Pellets keep better, take less space in the freezer and give more consistent utilisation than whole cones.

Australian and New Zealand hops

• Galaxy. The one that put Australian hops on the map. Intense passionfruit and peach. The backbone of most Australian pale ales and hazies, and the hop most people reach for when they want to make a hazy at home.
• Vic Secret. Pine and tropical fruit, cleaner and more resinous than Galaxy. Works well alongside it rather than instead of it.
• Eclipse. Australian, with a distinctive mandarin character.
• Pride of Ringwood / Super Pride. The traditional Australian bittering hop, behind most of the classic Australian lagers.
• Nelson Sauvin. New Zealand, and unmistakable. White wine and gooseberry. Use it with restraint the first time.
• Motueka. New Zealand, with a spicy noble character. Good in pilsners and saisons, and the closest thing to a Nelson Sauvin substitute when used with a light hand.

American hops

• Citra. Grapefruit, lime and lychee. The most in-demand aroma hop in the world for good reason.
• Mosaic. Blueberry, mango and pine. Excellent dry hopped, complex enough to carry a beer on its own.
• Cascade. The original American craft hop. Grapefruit and floral, the signature of the American pale ale.
• Amarillo. Orange and stone fruit, softer than Cascade.
• Centennial. Sometimes called super Cascade. Cleaner citrus, works as bittering or aroma.
• Willamette. Mild, earthy and floral. An American take on English character, good in browns and porters.

English and European hops

• Goldings. Gentle, honeyed and floral. The classic English ale hop for bitters and milds.
• Fuggles. Earthy, woody and grassy. Pairs with Goldings in traditional English recipes.
• Saaz. The noble Czech hop. Soft, spicy and herbal, and the reason a Bohemian pilsner tastes the way it does.
• Hallertau. German noble hop, mild and slightly floral. Lagers, wheat beers and Kolsch.
• Hersbrucker. German, herbal and delicate, at home in Munich lagers and wheats.
• Magnum. German high alpha bittering hop. Clean bitterness with almost no flavour of its own, which is exactly what you want early in a boil.

Storing hops

Hops go stale through heat and oxygen, not time alone. Vacuum-sealed pellets kept in the freezer hold their character for two to three years. Keep opened and unopened bags alike in the freezer. Left in a warm cupboard an opened bag loses aroma within months. Buy what you will use, freeze the rest, and squeeze the air out.

One last thing worth saying on a hops page: the hop bill is only half of it. Yeast drives as much of the finished flavour as the hops do, and our guide to brewing yeasts is the place to start on matching a strain to the beer you are building.

All varieties ship Australia-wide from our Melbourne store. We have been selling hops to Australian brewers since 1968, so if you are trying to work out a substitution or build a hop bill from scratch, ask.