To celebrate the hop harvest, Rocks Brewing Co has teamed up with Hop Products Australia to incorporate fresh hop flowers into a new limited edition Wet Hop Ale.
The aim of the limited edition brew is to showcase the incredible flavours and nuances that the use of fresh – or wet – hops can bring to a beer. As such, the classic beer style guidelines went out the window, with the team happy to abandon conventions. According to Head Brewer Scott Morgan, brewing with the fresh flowers (also known as hop cones) was a little bit like a dream come true.
“The wet hops smelled amazing straight out of the bag,” he says. “But out of the tank the aroma and flavour is, well, nothing short of amazing.”
Owen Johnson, from Hop Products Australia, concurs that brewing with fresh, or wet, hops is a singularly exciting experience for brewers – especially when it comes to using exclusive Australian varietals.
“At harvest time we love to get involved with brewers making wet-hopped beers,” he says. “Anything to help make hops the hero in beer is great.”
Weighing in somewhere between 5.0% and 6.0% ABV (alcohol by volume), and featuring Ella and Galaxy hop varieties, the brew blurs the lines between an IRA (India Red Ale) and an ABA (American Brown Ale). The Rocks Brewing team of Scott Morgan and Ben Landsberry, were aiming to create a beer that features a solid malt profile and flavour, as well as being extremely hoppy.
The beer is the latest member of Rocks Brewing Co’s Conviction Series, and is currently fermenting in the company’s state-of-the-art brewing facility in Alexandria. Incidentally, the working name for the brew was Holy Diver – in honour of the Black Sabbath song by Ronnie James Dio – due to Hard Rock Monday and Wet Hop Brew Day happily coinciding.
As Rocks Brewing Co gears up to launch the beer to market, Morgan is very happy with the progress the brew is making in the tanks.
“The hop notes at the moment are heavy and lush,” he says. “We are doing all we can to retain the flavour and aroma throughout the rest of the brewing to make sure our thirsty fans share in this hop-plosion.”
The beer will be available on tap at quality craft beer venues in the Sydney area very soon.
