By CAMERON WILLIAMSON
New Zealand horticulturists in Nelson have grown a hop that makes beer taste like wine.
The rare and highly aromatic Nelson Sauvin hop is the key ingredient in a limited-release beer, AroMac, to be launched on May 1 by McCashin's Breweries to attract drinkers looking for a similar taste
experience to Sauvignon Blanc wine.
AroMac is a 5 per cent (alcohol by volume) pilsener-style lager with aromas of gooseberries, tropical fruits, passionfruit and grass-clippings that are more usually associated with fruity white wines.
"New Zealanders are demanding new and exciting tastes," said McCashin's general manager, Bryan Leslie, "and boutique beers which give them that are a growing market."
HortResearch scientist Dr Ron Beatson says he expects export demand for the Nelson Sauvin, although Lion Breweries, who helped develop it, has exclusive use of the crop for two years.
"Only 15 hop cultivars have been developed in the past 40 years," Dr Beatson said, "so hop developments are relatively rare."
Nelson is the only region which grows the latitude-sensitive hop. The area's 23 hop growers produce about 800 tonnes each year, of which more than 80 per cent is exported, mainly to Germany, North America, Japan and Ireland.
