2026 Crop Report
The publication of our 2026 Crop Report gave us a fantastic platform to share our harvest results with staff, distribution partners, brewing customers and the broader industry. It generated strong media coverage across key publications including Myrtleford Times and Alpine Observer, Crafty Pint, Beer & Brewer, Drinks Trade, Asia Brewers Network, Hop Queries, New Brewer and Craft Beer & Brewing. The Luna launch also received significant media attention, with featured in Crafty Pint, Beer & Brewer, Asia Brewers Network, CIBD’s Brewer & Distiller International (page 10), Hop Notes, and Hop Queries. Plus, Crafty Pint published a couple of podcast episodes on Launching Luna featuring our very own Simon Whittock and Bright Brewery’s Lewis Kerr, and The Sensory Plus Promise featuring our very own Michael Capaldo and Haas’ Jeff Dailey.
Hop Harvest
On-farm, it was a bumper harvest season for customer engagement — we welcomed over 156 guests from across Australia as well as international brewing customers from the US, Japan, Singapore and China. We hosted our first Australian edition of Hops Academy, with Dr Christina Schoenberger delivering three half-day sessions to more than 85 customers. The week of March 16-19 was a highlight, with a packed program of social activities including Hoppy Hour at Bright Brewery, Barefoot Bowls at Bright Bowls Club, and the Luna launch party in The Paddock at Bright Brewery that drew over 70 customers. Next harvest is shaping up to be even bigger and better with plans to repeat our packed program of activities in Victoria, and a strong contingent of international customers in attendance. To close out the season, we proudly sponsored three fresh hop festivals – the High Country Hop in Victoria, the Hobart Community Hop in Tasmania, and the Inner West Fresh Hop Fest in New South Wales – celebrating our communities, supporting local brewers and helping educate consumers about the magic of hops.
Luna Launch
Luna exceeded all expectations with unprecedented demand in its debut season. The launch has been one of our most successful and well-executed campaigns to date. We developed a distinct sub-brand that captures Luna’s mango, berry and citrus flavour profile, and brought it to life through a truly global, collaborative campaign. Working alongside distribution partners we partnered with breweries worldwide to release 21 limited-edition beers, while showcasing Luna in our highest quality mixed pack to date. The campaign generated strong customer engagement and immediate sales impact, with standout domestic partners including Stone & Wood, Grifter and Philter and key international partners including Haas, BarthHaas, Hops Connect, Onishi Shoji, McLeods and Altitude. We were also proud to see Luna gain significant coverage across both traditional industry media and unpaid influencer channels, reflecting the genuine excitement this product has created in the market. With the majority of crop 2026 contracted and strong future interest, we’re now pursuing an expansion plan to rapidly increase supply from crop 2027 and beyond.
ANZ Sales Update
Our sales team has been out on the road, meeting an increasing number of customers face-to-face, hungry to better understand their needs and find the right solutions for their businesses.
A big thank you to everyone across the business for the support we received during harvest, especially the farm teams and Hop Central staff for welcoming our brewing customers during harvest. We know it’s your busiest time of year, and your patience, expertise and generosity made a lasting impression. Seeing our customers’ excitement when experiencing our operation firsthand was truly special, and a great reminder of what we’re all working towards.
In New Zealand, Lindsy has had a fantastic run, securing increased sales and new contracts with Altitude, Sawmill, McLeods, Garage Project and Asahi.
To support the Luna Launch, Haas served a Tired Hands collab beer at the US Craft Brewers Conference to coincide with the product launch. BarthHaas hosted AusFest – a national series of collab beers and sensory sessions in Manchester, Bristol and London to coincide with crop 2026 availability in the UK. And Hop Connect shipped a Whistle Buoy collab beer, dried flower samples, and data sheet to their top 100 customers to drive interest in Canada.
International Sales Update
Harvest also brought a number of important international customers and distributors to our farms. The response was outstanding, with several formal audits returning very positive results. These visits are a strong signal that our international partners are looking to deepen their relationship with HPA.
Our new variety Luna® has created enormous excitement globally. Working closely with the Marketing team, we delivered sales training to our American and European teams. Demand was so strong we had to pull back on allocations across America, Germany, the UK and Japan. We can’t wait for next year’s larger Luna® crop to meet that demand.
To round out the year, our international partners have a packed calendar of events, beer collaborations and a brand-new initiative called Ausfest that is designed to showcase Luna® and our other Australian hops to breweries across Europe and America.
Behind the scenes, our Supply Chain and Production teams have been working hard to schedule shipments of our 2026 crop to America, Germany and the UK, with further shipments to our Asian distributors planned for July and August.
