Hops

What does Cascade hops have to do with Cascade in Hobart? Nothing at all. The variety comes from the US and is named after the Cascade mountain range in the northwestern United States. Both names are simply a coincidence, and the hop variety came onto the market long after the brewery was founded.

Tasmanian hops grow mainly in the Derwent Valley, a river valley around 55 kilometres from Hobart. That's where Bushy Park is located, the large farm run by Hop Products Australia, or HPA for short. Old drying houses, known as oast houses, shape the landscape here.

HPA states that, together with its farms in Victoria, it grows around 90 percent of Australia's hops. The company has bred its own varieties, including Galaxy, Vic Secret and Ella. Galaxy smells of passionfruit, peach and citrus, a fruit character now familiar from many pale ales around the world.

Harvesting happens in the Southern Hemisphere in late summer, usually around March. The cones are dried and pressed into pellets so they can be stored and shipped. That makes Tasmanian hops an export commodity, landing in breweries across the US and Europe.

Hops provide both bitterness and aroma, and the two come from different compounds. Alpha acids create bitterness, measured in IBU. Essential oils provide the aroma and are lost during long boiling. A pale lager like Boag's relies on restrained bitterness, while a pale ale shows more hop aroma.