Hopping to it in the Adelaide Hills

Crossover Hops’ Martin Lunn and Tom Doherty harvested their first crop in mid-February, grown on a 22 acre property just north of Lobethal.

Planted across half an acre, Mr Lunn said output from the 540 vines was best summarised as a “reasonable success”.

He said nearby Lobethal Bierhaus will use the resultant hop cones in a commemorative brew due for release next month.

“I don’t want to divulge the name of the brew just yet, but it’s synonymous with what we’re doing and the history of Lobethal,” he said.

“We have a gentlemen’s agreement with the Bierhaus to provide it with as much crop as they can handle.”

Hop-growing in Lobethal dates back to 1851, but Mr Lunn said it had largely died out until recently.

“The weather in the Adelaide Hills is very conducive to growing hops and in its early days, Lobethal was home to a thriving industry,” he said.

“Tom, who has been a keen home brewer for a long time, and I had talked about doing something together and here we are. We think the market is there.

“We also have 65 head of cattle on the property, so we’re also working on a paddock-to-plate and brewery concept.”

Mr Lunn said it was difficult for brewers to secure a large-scale supply of wet cones — which come straight from the plant, rather than being palletised.

“A wet hop is a completely different flavour and style of beer. For a brewer, they can be very sought after,” he said.

Mr Lunn said the next crop, which will be planted in July, should see each vine produce at least 2kg of hops.

“Typically, the plant gets and more productive better as it gets older,” he said. “One kilo of wet hops will make around 40 litres of brew.”

Crossover Hops is also in discussions with a South-East farmer about sourcing “a specific strand of barley that we think will be ideal for brewers” that it will then dry-roast in a recently acquired commercial oven.

luke.griffiths@news.com.au