Hop Breeding Program
Our Hop Breeding Program began way back in the 1950s when we were all about growing bittering hops. Our primary focus was improving our alpha acid yield until the beginning of the craft beer movement rolled around. As beer drinkers began to move away from malt, bitterness and alcohol content toward flavour, aroma and diversity, we began to breed flavour hops for the emerging market.
Our Plant Breeders have since used their expert understanding of hops, and how to pair plants to breed desirable traits, to bring a number of hugely successful proprietary hops to brewers – Eclipse®, Ella™, Enigma®, Galaxy®, Topaz™ and Vic Secret™.
Galaxy® is now considered to be one of the Big Eight varieties found in virtually every beer recipe as an indispensable guarantor of flavour intensity. But our thirst for uniquely Aussie flavour hops doesn’t stop there. We’re always searching for the latest flavour so we can continue to offer brewers choice and diversity.
Leading experimental hops
In the US, our partner grower is John I. Haas. They supply us with consistently high quality hops, including exclusive access to the Hop Breeding Company (HBC) proprietary varieties. While many hop suppliers carry Citra®, Mosaic®, Sabro®, Ekuanot® and Talus™, the Haas and HBC partnership in developing pest-resistant and disease-resistant hops with strong commercial qualities means HPA has access to the very best Citra available, supported by significant quantities.
Since the majority of our hops are proprietary varieties, we don’t sell rhizomes to others looking to establish their own hop garden.
