YOUR INDUSTRY
COUNTRY’S LARGEST HOP GROWER CONTINUES TO EXPAND Words by Anne Hardie
General manager of operations, Paul Teen, checks out the crop with Glen Clayton (centre) and Brian Clayton
Brian (left), Paul Teen and Glen above a river terrace at their Battery Hill hop farm
Not so many years ago the Clayton brothers knew nothing about hops apart from the aroma and flavours they instilled in a craft beer. Today they are the country’s largest hop growers and still expanding.
great product and there’s not much of it around. Let’s see if we can do it justice.”
Last year they produced close to 250 tonnes of hops for brewers around the world, and by the time their farms are fully developed that is expected to climb to about 1,000 tonnes from 500ha. The three brothers, Brian, Glen and Andrew, originate from the West Coast where their parents still farm, and each left the farm for university and careers away in agricultural finance or in Brian’s case, commercial law. For several years they had been seeking a venture together and when Andrew started planting hops to establish his own hop farm, they realised the potential for something bigger. Not only was it a venture that matched their skills set of finance and development, but Brian says it was a product that craft brewers wanted. “Our (New Zealand) hops are coveted around the world and we’re only 1% of the world’s hops. To us, the fundamentals were there. We’re pretty passionate about it and feel at the end of the day we want to see where it can go, because it’s a 42
NZGROWER : MARCH 2021
This is their third harvest – and Andrew’s fourth – on properties they purchased and developed near Tapawera and Korere, west of Nelson. So far, 240ha on three former dairy farms and one sheep and beef farm have sprouted poles on river flats, terraces and plateaus, with 260ha yet to develop. In the midst of the plantings, a couple of $7 million processing and kiln facilities have been built to strip the cones from the vines (or bines) and dry them, ready for brewers. “Demand is there and we feel there’s room for everyone. One variety in the United States, Citra, is bigger than the whole New Zealand crop. It dwarfs the whole New Zealand industry.” They grow nine varieties of hops on their farms, being a combination of highly popular hop varieties as well as lesser-known varieties that spread the season. That enables them to harvest each variety at the optimum time for quality and also utilise the processing and kiln facilities as long as possible. Among their varieties is the ‘rock star’ of the New Zealand hop industry, Nelson Sauvin, plus Motueka, which have the aromas and tastes that brewers love. Brian refers to the variety Riwaka as the holy grail because it is a great brewer’s hop, but can be temperamental to grow, which from a brewer’s perspective means it can be hard to get their hands on.
