When it comes to beer, fresh is considered by many to be best. And those with a thirst for such a tipple need wait no longer.
A new range of brews made from freshly picked New Zealand fresh hops - as opposed to the traditional method using dry hops - will be available in New World supermarkets this month.
Eight craft brewers from throughout the country are supplying their beers to 140 New World stores, including Wellington-based brewer Parrotdog. Head brewer Matt Warner says being so close to the airport means they can begin brewing within hours of the hops being picked in Motueka, a short hop away across Cook Strait in the South Island.
"The hops are on a chartered plane to us within three or four hours," he says. "Being right next to the airport, we can start brewing almost immediately which is important because within 24 hours the fresh hops begin to lose their juicy goodness."
The limited edition range of fresh hop beers will be on New World beer chiller shelves from April 21 but will only be available while stocks last.
Foodstuffs North Island merchandise manager for liquor, Chris Anderson, says many people, even enthusiastic beer drinkers, won't be familiar with fresh hop beers but interest is growing.
"These are truly exceptional beers," he says. "Because they are made with freshly picked hops, their taste is like no other that brewers produce using traditional dry hops the rest of the year. Each one offers a really unique experience dependent on the hop chosen, and they are made in very limited quantities just once a year."
He says New World is one of the few outlets where these beers are available, meaning more Kiwis are getting a chance to enjoy what is fast becoming one of the most anticipated releases on the beer calendar.
"Fresh hop beers are essentially a fresh product, so they need to be kept cold every step of the way. To make it possible to share these with shoppers, New World is extending the care usually shown to fragile produce and dairy products to the beer category.
"We are really looking after every beer from the second it is ready for pick up from the brewery until it is snapped up by shoppers to make sure it never loses its freshness," he says. "So much work has gone into these beers by the hop growers and brewers and we need to handle them with kid-gloves to ensure their fresh and exceptional quality is not compromised."
Warner says his company produces just one fresh hops batch a year. This year's brew Parrotdog Brent, is a hazy IPA (India Pale Ale) made with fresh Nectaron ® hops from Mac Hops in Motueka, a newly released hop cultivar developed in collaboration between NZ Hops (New Zealand's cooperative of Master Growers) and Plant & Food Research.
He says the brew is named after Mac Hops grower Brent McGlashen. "His farm got decimated by a hail storm on Boxing Day and he lost up to half his crop," says Warner. "Despite this he bent over backwards to ensure we had our supply as usual."
The hops were harvested in mid-March and within hours of being plucked from the bine they were bagged and loaded into a small plane at Nelson Airport for the short flight to Lyall Bay in Wellington. Parrotdog used about 500kg of hops for this year's batch, enough for around 4000 litres of finished product.
Warner says fresh hops produce fruity aromas and flavours with a delicate, fresh-from-the-garden pungency. Brewing within 24 hours also means they retain the qualities and beautiful oily characteristics that are so prominent in a fresh hop cone.
Meanwhile Anderson says with timing and temperature critical, part of New World's commitment is to transport the fresh beer from each brewery through a constantly cold supply chain to ensure every brew reaches the beer chiller shelves in perfect condition.
"Brewers and drinkers have high expectations of quality and it is important to get the logistics spot on at every step of the supply chain," he says.
As well as Parrotdog, New World will transport and stock fresh hop beers from other top New Zealand craft brewers including Baylands, Behemoth, Epic, Garage Project, Liberty, Sawmill and Urbanaut.
The limited edition range of fresh hop beers will be available from Wednesday 21st April in New World stores nationwide. Behemoth and Baylands fresh hop beers are available in North Island stores only. Get in quick while stocks last!
To learn more about fresh hop beers at New World visit newworld.co.nz/discover/beer/fresh-hops.