Hop Products Australia (HPA) has produced a new proprietary variety from its hop breeding program. Eclipse is a big-hitting, fruit-forward flavor hop bursting with sweet mandarin, zesty citrus peel and fresh pine needles. It is yet another exciting addition to their portfolio of uniquely Australian flavor hops that already includes world renowned varieties such as Galaxy, Vic Secret, Ella and Enigma.
History. Eclipse was first developed by HPA’s hop breeding program in 2004, but its ancestry can be traced as far back as 1915. The subsequent generations of cross pollination featured varieties such as Fuggle, Brewer’s Gold, Comet and Pride of Ringwood in the uniquely Australian environment.
Profile. Since Eclipse sits firmly in the fruit quadrant of HPA’s Hop Flavor Spectrum it is well suited to fruit-forward beer styles, so you can expect a bit of everything from high impact hazy NEIPAs to lighter well-balanced IPAs. Ash Hazell, Head of Brewing at Colonial Brewing Co, used Eclipse back when it was still an experimental hop called HPA-016. He says “the best
beer I ever brewed was Pioneer. It was a 7.5% IPA using a foolish amount of whole HPA016 hops in the hop-back and dry-hopping. The full spectrum of hop character we extracted was unreal.”
Availability? Eclipse is currently only available in the Australian market, but will start to reach the rest of the world in commercial quantities from crop 2021. Stock will be limited for the first few years while HPA sustainably scale up production. Forward contracts are encouraged to secure your supply.
Get a taste. To celebrate the commercialization of Eclipse, HPA is teaming up with Beer Cartel, Australia’s #1 online craft beer store, and a feast of local breweries to create a special mixed pack. It will include 12 tasty beers starring their latest creation from the likes of Deeds, Hop Nation, Moo Brew, Mountain Culture, Mr Banks and Two Birds. The Eclipse Mixed Pack will
be available to beer drinkers across Australia through Beer Cartel’s online store.
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