Hops

No significant hops grow in Queensland, since hops prefer cool summer nights and long days. Australia's hop gardens lie far to the south, in Tasmania and the state of Victoria. Anyone brewing in Brisbane orders hops from more than a thousand kilometres away.

Two varieties have made the country famous: Galaxy and Vic Secret. Both carry strong tropical fruit aromas—Galaxy often brings passionfruit to mind. They became essential to craft beers that are hopped late in the boil or even dry-hopped cold, so the aroma doesn't blow off.

Bitterness and aroma come from different parts of the hop. Bitterness derives from alpha acids, which only become soluble when boiled in the wort. Aroma sits in the essential oils, which evaporate quickly during boiling. That's why brewers add aroma hops late, sometimes only after fermentation in the cold tank. This technique is called dry hopping, and it draws aroma into the beer without adding extra bitterness.

With XXXX Bitter, the picture is different. The name is misleading—the beer is lightly hopped. Measuring bitterness in IBU, a scale for bittering compounds, this style sits at low to medium values, typically between 18 and 25 for international pale lagers.

Brisbane craft brewers like Ballistic, Green Beacon or Newstead, by contrast, favour pale ales with pronounced hop aroma. On a muggy evening, the cool carbonation carries that aroma particularly well.