Hop grower Brent McGlashen of Mac Hops, left and Tuatara head brewer Rik Valentine load some of the 40 sacks, 800kg of freshly harvested green hops from Mac Hops in Motueka, ready to be flown to Paraparaumu and brewed immediately. Photo: Marion van Dijk
Time is of the essence when it comes to green hops, which is why Tuatara Brewery sent its head brewer to Nelson in a plane to collect 800 kilograms of the freshly picked cones.
Head brewer Rik Valentine made the journey from Paraparaumu to pick up the load of Nelson sauvin hops, harvested at 7.30am at Mac Hops in Motueka and loaded into the plane at 9.30am, especially for the brewery’s signature green-hopped Conehead beer. (full story)