It’s been a bit since I have talked up Claremont Craft Ales but they have recently released their first New Zealand hopped beer….
If you haven’t visited their taproom, it is well worth the trip especially for a summer road trip.
Kiwi in Claremont
Earthlings
Highland Park Brewery has a new westie IPA, Fellow Humans a collaboration with Orange County’s Everywhere Beer Co.
“Fellow Humans is a 6.2%ABV west coast IPA with lots of fun hops! This clear beer uses NZ Cascade, Eclipse, & it’s also our first time using the hop Nectaron! We’re so excited to experiment with this rad new hop, especially on this beer! bursts of intense aromas like Orange Tic-Tacs, mojito, Big League Chew Bubblegum, & clementines.”
Love HPB beers but toning down the from left field, weird flavor descriptors might be needed though.
NZ Hopping
Thanks to the generosity of NZ Hops and Firestone Walker, I learned some new information and got to rub some New Zealand grown hops yesterday.
The headliner being the new-ish Nectaron hop. Let’s backpedal a bit though. NZ Hops is a hop co-op that has bine roots stretching back 150 years. The group is comprised of 27 farms with 18 hop varietals sone of which are organic. They have connections with the Plant & Food Program Hop Division and their hop rock star Dr. Ron Beatson, which wraps us back to Nectaron which is slyly named after him.
We have been enjoying New Zealand hops in our beers for some time now but this latest innovation push and increased usage by notable brewers like Firestone Walker means, we will be seeing more of their hops. The photo above shows three of four current beers from FW that feature their hops.
In my one adjective findings Nectaron pellets – Pineapple, Nelson – lemon and Motueka – earthy. In the two beers that I tasted, the Nectaron came through as watermelon plus nectarine and the Nelson was white wine grape. It amazes me that brewers can take one aroma in pellet form and create something new in a beer. Gotta love bio-transformation.
I will review the Elenna and 18th (can you believe it) iteration of Luponic Distortion later this month to round out the NZ hop experience.
Nectaron New Zealand
Even the latest LD from Firestone Walker got a bit of a label re-fresh along with the hop list for this all New Zealand iteration….
The hop news for this IPA is the use of the Nectaron hop and this is the backstory from the press release, “The latest Luponic Distortion stems from Brynildson’s travels around the Nelson region of New Zealand. There, he befriended multigenerational hop farmer Brent McGlashen, proprietor of MAC Farms, as well as Dr. Ron Beatson, a hop geneticist with New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research public breeding program.
After his initial trip four years ago, Brynildson returned two years later and followed up on emerging hops like Hort 4337, which McGlashen was growing on an experimental basis at the time. Hort 4337 would later be named Nectaron in honor of Dr. Beatson. The name Nectaron is a marriage of “Nectar of the Gods” and Dr. Beatson’s first name, Ron.”
Names to Look For
Quick hop post for y’all.
Remember these two hop names because I bet you will be seeing them in beers next year and more I need 2022.
First up is Australia- Eclipse. Then to New Zealand for – Nectaron.