Kiwis catch us on the hop
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday March 29, 2011
Our canny neighbours have become significant players on the international stage. As with so many things across the Tasman, the Kiwi hop industry punches well above its weight, exporting to 30-plus countries. The chief executive officer of New Zealand Hops is a former Malt Shovel head brewer, Doug Donelan.After clocking up 14 years under brewmaster Chuck Hahn, Donelan took up the Nelson-based hop marketing role in 2006."I wanted a new challenge but was also looking for a rural lifestyle while still being involved in the brewing industry," he says. "Being a brewer means I can talk other brewers through issues like hop addition rates and timings."Unlike the Australian hop industry, where a single company - Hop Products Australia - owns and controls the vast majority of hop acreage, the Kiwi industry is based around independent hop farmers."New Zealand Hops is a grower-owned cooperative," Donelan says. "There are 19 growers who are shareholders and they vary in size from relatively small holdings of around 10 hectares to larger growers of 75-80 hectares. The annual crop is 750-850 tonnes, depending on the market."We produce around 0.7 per cent of the world crop and are predominantly an export industry with 90 per cent of our hops destined for export markets. We play both commodity and specialty segments [of the brewing industry]."Donelan says, on a global scale, five brewing companies produce more than 50 per cent of total beer production. "We work actively on this part of the market but the higher volumes are obviously at a lower value," he says. "Over the past few years we've diversified more into the craft beer market where we can supply specialty hop varieties which are lower volume but higher value."Our biggest export market is the US. We have a fairly special relationship with the Sierra Nevada brewery in California, where we fly bales of whole hops directly to them at harvest time. They have created a beer called Southern Harvest in their harvest ale range, which is based on our hops. It's literally less than a week from baling to brewing."NZ Hops also enjoys a solid presence in the Australian craft beer industry and Donelan nominates White Rabbit, Little Creatures, Murrays, Matilda Bay, Malt Shovel and Knappstein as regular customers."We also supply traditional beer markets such as Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic and the UK," he says. "There is a certain level of risk mitigation for northern hemisphere brewers who want to buy hops off-season from a stable environment like New Zealand."The other markets for Kiwi hops include China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Japan, Korea and the Pacific. "The business model we've developed is pretty much that nobody is too small for us to supply," Donelan says.Some years back, the NZ hop industry made a conscious effort to develop aroma varieties, rather than relying on supplying bittering hops to larger breweries.A breeding program was undertaken based on classic European aroma varieties like hallertau, saaz and fuggle, which resulted in new world varieties such as Pacific hallertau, Nelson sauvin, Motueka and Riwaka. The ripe tropical fruit character of Nelson sauvin is the backbone of such local brews as Little Creatures Bright Ale and Knappstein Reserve Lager.Motueka and Riwaka are both related to the noble Czech saaz, and highly sought after by Australian craft brewers, mainly for pilsener-style lagers. NZ Hops also markets several certified organic varieties and the Kiwi organic hop industry is generally well ahead of what's happening here.
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald