A ‘BINE TO BEER’ STORY

Fun fact: hops grow on bines (not vines). And they love the rich volcanic soils of the region.

More and more small-scale artisan brewers are plying their craft in the Great Ocean Road Region. With their passion for local ingredient provenance, there’s a whole new breed of ‘brew crew’ foragers, finders and even some growers.

Sharon Bradshaw, co-founder of Forrest Brewery, explained that in the early 1900s hops were grown along the river all the way between Forrest and Colac.

“The industry was an important part of the community,” Sharon said. “Local kids used to get a week off school to pick the hops at harvest time.”

“A big part of our ‘why’ is bringing back industry to the regions, connecting to the past and rediscovering old ways of growing and making.”

“About 9 years ago, we recovered and propagated some of the old hop rhizomes from the riverflats, planting them out to a hopfield on our family farm 3 kilometres out of Forrest.”

“Each year, when the hops are at their peak, we set a day for our hop picnic. We invite family, friends and community to join us for the day. The brewers cut the hop strings down, lay them out on trestles and we all chip in to pick the hop flowers. It’s a fun and informal communal day.”

“The hops go straight into the brew kettle to make our seasonal Sticky Fingers wet hop lager, named for the sticky fingers you get handling the hop flowers. The 170 strings of hops now growing will yield about 2,500 litres of beer, which we’ll split between kegs and bottles.”

Alex Carr, head brewer at Koroit’s Noodledoof Brewing and Distilling Co, is also getting amongst the hop bines.

“We’re three seasons in now, growing hops on my business partner Sam’s hobby farm, a couple of kilometres from the brewery,” Alex said. “We’re currently growing Chinook, Victoria and Cascade varieties.”

“We brew our Fresh Hops IPA in one brew, on one day a year, usually the end of March, but whenever the hops are just right for picking. We get the brew started in the morning and just keep adding the fresh hops, as they’re picked, until day’s end. The smell’s amazing.”

“Fresh hops beer has a unique flavour that’s not as inyour-face as you might think. It’s more subtle. There’s a fresh floral aroma to the beer and a unique softness that rounds it out nicely.”

“We knew the hops would thrive here. There’s a rule of thumb that where potatoes grow well, so will hops. These rich volcanic soils are ideal.” forrestbrewing.com.au noodledoof.com