Hop Nation

It has been said before that winemakers love beer more than wine, whether it be for reasons of speed of production, or simply for a change of pace. Two such winemakers, Sam Hambour and Duncan Gibson, have taken that to its logical conclusion, and have now set up shop brewing beer in the back streets of Footscray.

The two young brewers were making wine in Central Otago in New Zealand when both began dabbling in homebrewing, taking on local homebrewers in competitions and developing a healthy rivalry to see who would come out on top.

But, after bidding farewell to the wineries of Otago to pursue an 18-month stint making wine around the world, Duncan got antsy to return to the Antipodes. He got in touch with Sam, who had since landed on the Mornington Peninsula, to see if there was any interest in giving the craft beer scene in Melbourne a go. The answer was a resounding, "Yes!" and Hop Nation was born.

They landed in Melbourne in mid-2014 and, after a few months of planning, started off their new brewing adventure with a contract brew at Hawkers, making use of the state-of-the-art equipment available to them.

Making the transition to commercial scale brewing was an adjustment for the pair as they applied their winemaker’s minds to larger brews than their previous homebrewing endeavours had allowed for. After a few trial runs and recipe alterations, they released their first commercial brew – The Fiend Australian IPA in June 2015 – at which point we first shared their story.

It was soon joined by the likes of their American red ale, The Buzz, and The Damned New Zealand pilsner and some limited releases but beers aside, the biggest challenge had been in finding a brewery space to call their own.

But, in November 2015, came a phone call that changed the game. A friend of Duncan’s who worked at Sawmill Brewery near Auckland said they were selling their 12 hectolitre brewery and Duncan could have first dibs if he was quick. An offer followed later that afternoon, one that was promptly accepted, and the search for brewing facilities in Melbourne began in earnest.

After comparing multiple locations around Victoria, Footscray came out on top thanks to its burgeoning craft beer market, youthful population and ever-growing list of restaurants and bars keen to make a mark. They opened the doors to their brewery and cellar door at the end of July 2016.

The building they settled on, with its chapel-esque sloped brick roof and huge arched architraves, forms an incredible backdrop for their wooden-clad brewkit. It seems the graffiti artist they commissioned felt the same, creating huge stained glass windows for the cellar door bar. Walking in, the impact is immediate – you’ve entered a church in which to worship at the altar of water, hops, malt and yeast. And, given their background, barrels.

It's quite the find too, tucked away in an industrial estate; arrive there when the party's in full swing and there's a welcome touch of warehouse party – as well as warehouse brewery – about the place.

Hops earn their place in the brewery’s name, and lend themselves to the brewery’s mantra of "In Hops We Trust", but wood is never too far behind, as their winery connections allow for easy access to a range of barrels. Under the Site Fermentation Project label they've released wines in cans, beer-wine hybrids, fruited mixed ferment beers and more. It's not the only spin-off too, with Ray hard seltzer joining their family in 2020 and the team announcing plans to install a still in 2021.

Add in their expansion into Mornington Peninsula Brewery's former production facility, the food-focused Zymurgy run in partnership with chef Julian Hills in West Footscray and a dedicated wild, sour and funky beer festival in Blobfish and it's clear that Sam and Dunc like to keep themselves busy and the good booze flowing.

Name
Hop Nation
Address

Unit 6, 107/109 Whitehall Street Footscray
VIC 3011

Open Hours

Friday: 3pm to 10pm

Saturday: 12pm to 10pm

Sunday: 12pm to 6pm


This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

The Specials

Hop Nation Dog Beer
Hop Nation x Birdsnake Karma Milk Chocolate Stout
Hop Nation Field Daze & Field Haze
Hop Nation Forbidden Peach, Apricot & Passionfruit & Bearded Seal (with Lervig)
Hop Nation x Garage Project Pigdog
Hop Nation Paradise Valley Hotel
Hop Nation Experiment 102
Hop Nation x Garage Project What's In The Box?
Hop Nation The New Dawn
Site Fermentation Project: Barrel Aged Pineapple Sour Blonde Ale
Hop Nation Weekend Getaway & Head In The Clouds, Feet In The Crowds
Show 62 more

Hop Nation Regulars

Hop Nation Rattenhund

Published March 18, 2021
Hop Nation regularly release experimental beers that explore the directions in which hops, malt, yeast, bugs, fruit, barrels and basically any other ingredient can take beer. But, when it comes to exciting this beer writer, a good way to go about it is by releasing a traditional pilsner and sending over more than 400 words explaining the way the brew team went about making it. As is often said, pilsners are brewer’s beers and, in the case of Rattenhund, there’s clearly some excitement within… Read more
Style
Pilsner
ABV
4.8%

Hop Nation Fool

Published November 18, 2020
The raspberry sour Fool first popped up in 2019 as part of Hop Nation’s three-part Sweet and Sour series but the beer’s popularity saw it make the move from limited release to regular run in 2020. Drinking it, it’s not hard to see where that popularity might have come from, since a sour, sweet, raspberry and vanilla-laden beer could very easily contain flavours that really stick out and compete against each other. Instead, Fool’s fruit flavour and the sweetness from the vanilla combine into… Read more
Style
Raspberry Sour
ABV
5.0%

Hop Nation 'Ray Lemon & Lime, Peach & Watermelon & Mint

Published May 13, 2020
Remember that time when the arrival of hard seltzer on these shores was a matter of lively discussion for many? Back when things live music and sport were still a thing. Feels like a loooooong time ago, yet it's actually only 78 days since we published The Alcopopalypse Cometh. The boozy pop offerings continued to come, with Hop Nation joining the party with no less than three – all named after their home 'burb of Footscray – and with the promise of heaps more to come by summer, assuming that's… Read more
Style
Hard Seltzer
ABV
4.5%
Stockists

Available from their online store

And bottleshops nationwide

Hop Nation & Footscray Historical Society The Patron

Published October 17, 2018
Back in the 19th century, well before Centrelink and the Australian Labor Party, the social welfare of the working class was rarely at the forefront of the government’s mind. In industrial suburbs like Footscray, it meant the wellbeing of the poor often fell into the hands of their employers. Though a quick glance over a Charles Dickens novel might lead to the assumption employers would do whatever they could to avoid spending their money on workers, it wasn’t always the case. Drawing inspiration… Read more
Style
Mid-Strength
ABV
3.5%

Hop Nation The Heart Pale Ale

Published July 1, 2017
When you put the word "hop" front and centre in your name, you're going to want to know your way around them in the brewery. And Hop Nation has certainly proved they do, particularly since moving into their own home in Footscray. Having released all manner of hop forward beers – IPAs, an American red, a Kiwi pilsner – they added a pale ale to the lineup too, with The Heart so called as founders Sam and Dunc reckon it's at the heart of their brewery. It's a pale as pale, one that throws… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
4.6%

Hop Nation J Juice

Published May 26, 2017
Before Jedi Juice, Hop Nation had already proven to be a brewery that know their way around an IPA. The Chop is one of the best loved of those coming from Melbourne breweries and is but one of many variants they've released in their relatively short lifespan. For the 2017 GABS Festival, they added another: Jedi Juice, the latest beer to be added to the growing collection of hazy New England style IPAs from local brewers. It's not their first crack at the style either, with this one a showcase of… Read more
Style
New England IPA
ABV
7.0%
Stockists

Now available year round

Hop Nation The Punch

Published December 6, 2016
As 2016 draws to a close, it's a toss up as to what the defining theme of the year has been. Is it the ubiquity of IPA, the ongoing rise of sour beer styles, the rate at which the number of new brewing companies is outstripping demand, or the race to get a beer (or beers) into cans for summer? We probably need time away from writing about the local beer scene, ideally in a flotation tank, to come to a conclusion, but what we do know is that Hop Nation has added to the world of IPA in fine style with… Read more
Style
Mango Gose
ABV
4.0%

Hop Nation The Chop

Published October 3, 2016
When you've put the word "Hop" front and centre in your brewery's name, it's pretty clear where your affections lie. That said, given they come from winemaking backgrounds, Sam and Dunc of Hop Nation have played elsewhere in their short life to date, with former wine barrels inhabiting their brewery venue and a beer-wine hybrid and imperial stout among the beers to have appeared already. But with The Chop it's all about the hops. It's tagged an American IPA, but one that they're not associating… Read more
Style
American IPA
ABV
7.0%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

Cellar Door

And select good beer outlets

More stockists...

Hop Nation Hop Fiend

They may hail from New Zealand and have travelled the world before alighting in Victoria, but when it came to designing their first commercial release, Sam and Duncan chose to showcase their adopted home. The first in a trio of core range beers based around hops from the three key New World growing regions of the world took its hops from Tasmania, utilising mainly Galaxy, augmented with a couple of other lesser known local varieties. While tagged an Australian IPA – and coming with a suitably feisty… Read more
Style
Australian IPA
ABV
5.4%
Bitterness
40 IBU

Hop Nation The Buzz

Sam and Duncan's second adventure in hops saw them plunder the US. They opted for three varieties with plenty of punch too: Simcoe, Amarilla and Mosaic, and didn't hold back on the malt base either, layering on plenty of toasted and biscuity malts to not only give the beer its blood orange hue but enough of a backbone to keep the hops in balance. The beer comes with a nod to Buzz Aldrin in the shape of a hop-filled astronaut's helmet on the label. And it was also the beer from Hop Nation's opening… Read more
Style
American Red Ale
ABV
6.5%
Awards

Gold – AIBA 2018

Hop Nation The Damned

The third of the trio of New World hop showcasing beers with which Hop Nation announced themselves to the world was one that took them back to the country where they'd first met – and started homebrewing: New Zealand. There have been many great beers come out of New Zealand but the one homegrown style that's gained more traction there then any other is the NZ Pilsner and that's what The Damned delivers. Classic pilsner malts form the backdrop for lively lime and citrus hops to take centre stage,… Read more
Style
NZ Pilsner
ABV
4.8%

Hop Nation Specials

Hop Nation Dog Beer

Published April 12, 2023
Just when you thought you'd tried basically every type of beer under the sun, this comes along. Hop Nation's (well, Dog Nation's) beer for pets is suitable for dogs and cats of all ages and, thanks to Dog Beer containing no alcohol, collagen protein and 19 amino acids, it's good for joints, coats and gut health. Better yet, it's made entirely with human grade foods so while it might be designed for four-legged friends and vet-approved, humans can drink it too. (In all honesty, before tasting this… Read more
Style
Alcohol-Free Dog Beer
ABV
0.0%

Hop Nation x Birdsnake Karma Milk Chocolate Stout

Published April 3, 2023
Hop Nation’s Karma is one of the long serving members of the brewery’s lineup and ahead of Easter 2023, it’s been given a spinoff. This milk chocolate limited release has been brewed in collaboration with Melbourne’s Birdsnake and uses ethical and traceable cacao nibs Birdsnake sourced and roasted from the Kemito Ene Association in Peru along with Tahitian vanilla beans and lactose. The result is the creamy stout with freshly-roasted espresso notes you may well know and love with an extra… Read more
Style
Milk Chocolate Stout
ABV
5.0%

Hop Nation Field Daze & Field Haze

Published March 30, 2023
If you follow any number of breweries on Instagram, you may have spent recent weeks with a touch of jealousy. The hop harvest is currently underway and brewers from across the country have been descending on the country’s hop fields for tours to pick up fresh hops. On March 2, Hop Nation made their way up to Hop Product Australia’s Rostrevor farm to pick up Galaxy for two distinct but similar IPAs. Field Daze is the brighter of the two, with the clear and orange beer turning that hop into stone… Read more
Style
Fresh Hop IPAs
ABV
Both 6.0%

Hop Nation Forbidden Peach, Apricot & Passionfruit & Bearded Seal (with Lervig)

Published February 28, 2023
They might have hops in their name but Hop Nation have seen out summer with two heavily-fruit beer. Forbidden is the second beer in the sour series and this time around, it’s all about Peach, Apricot & Passionfruit. Each of them were picked at the peak of ripeness which ensures there’s quite a richness running through the beer, with sweet peach and apricot the frontrunners before passionfruit comes across like a nectar those two stonefruits have been swimming in. Meanwhile, Tahitian vanilla… Read more
Style
Fruited Sour & Fruited Hazy IPA
ABV
5.3% & 8.0%

Hop Nation x Garage Project Pigdog

Published January 19, 2023
Hop Nation’s famed pilsner, The Rat Dog, has welcomed a fresh new pack member with the arrival of a Kwi spinoff, Pigdog. The New Zealand pilsner is a collaboration between the Melbourne brewery and Garage Project and while it largely follows the same traditional path Rattenhund, there's a modern and antipodean twist brought by Riwaka and Pacifica hops. As someone who knows little about New Zealand culture outside Lord of the Rings and Taika Waititi films, it feels like the name is a tip of the… Read more
Style
NZ Pilsner
ABV
5.0%

Hop Nation Paradise Valley Hotel

Published January 14, 2023
Hop Nation have kicked off 2023 with a couple of their favourite things: collaborating and IPA. Paradise Valley Hotel can be found in Clematis in the Dandenong Ranges and while some might know it as The Clem, that local’s name doesn’t quite conjure the same mysterious beauty for outsiders. What this beer conjures is a whole lot of Cryo hops, with Centennial, Citra, Chinook and Sabro all added as the hop product. It’s a mix that brings a classic West Coast combination of grapefruit, pine and… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.0%

Hop Nation Experiment 102

Published December 12, 2022
To cap off a long year with a lot of limited releases, Hop Nation’s final release of 2022 is an experiment. Experiment 102 to be exact, with the IPA a part of the Bract Brewing Programme, which sees a select group of breweries from across the globe partner with NZ Hops as part of the hop-growing collective’s breeding programme (although without wanting to start an international grammar incident, I think it’s “program” in Australia). As you may have gathered from the name, the experimental… Read more
Style
NZ IPA
ABV
6.5%

Hop Nation x Garage Project What's In The Box?

Published December 2, 2022
What’s In The Box? A thiol-rich experience of has is what’s in the box. The beer is a collaboration between Hop Nation and Garage Project and is one of the first in Australia to make use of Phantasm. We’ll take a deeper dive into the brewing powder soon but basically, it’s an extract developed by Garage Project’s cofounder Jos Ruffell to boost thiols in beer to add more juicy or tropical aromatics. It’s a complex side of the world of brewing but you don’t need to understand the science… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
7.4%

Hop Nation The New Dawn

Published November 11, 2022
Way back in 2016, Hop Nation wanted to celebrate the launch of their Footscray brewery and taproom with a beer to fit the occasion. That beer was The Dawn, one of the country’s very first hazy IPAs and one that - if memory serves correctly - was absolutely filled to the brim with a distinct juiciness that wasn't found in beer at the time. Since then, a bigger take appeared to much acclaim and now a new version has risen like the sun with the arrival of the 8.1 percent imperial hazy, The New Dawn.… Read more
Style
Imperial Hazy IPA
ABV
8.1%

Site Fermentation Project: Barrel Aged Pineapple Sour Blonde Ale

Published November 3, 2022
If you could only have one fruit for summer, at the risk of alienating all the stone fruit and melon loyalists out there, I’d argue it should be pineapple. With its heady combination of fleshy fruit and tartness, nothing tastes like summer quite like biting into a bit of pineapple and watching it fly off in every direction (again, sorry for all the melon heads out there). Out in time for summer is Hop Nation’s latest Site Fermentation Project release, Barrel Aged Pineapple Sour Blonde Ale. The… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Sour
ABV
6.6%

Hop Nation Weekend Getaway & Head In The Clouds, Feet In The Crowds

Published October 25, 2022
If you ever wondered what Hop Nation’s founders, Sam and Dunc, might look like as Cheek and Chong-style cartoons, then wonder no more. Weekend Getaway features the brewery owners hightailing it through the desert with one impressive hop cone. But referencing an old school American comedy duo isn’t the only way this beer is a throwback, with the dank West Coast loaded with the all-American mix of Simcoe, Columbus, plus Citra and Centennial in the shape of Cyro. The result is a super resinous affair… Read more
Style
West Coast & Hazy IPAs
ABV
6.3% & 6.0%

Hop Nation Opening Doors

Published September 27, 2022
There is a sense of inevitability about Hop Nation’s Opening Doors. The Melbourne brewery were one of the first to jump on the haze craze and have built a reputation for their heavily hopped and lush beers. More recently they’ve also embraced non-alc craft beer† and have found not only fans through it but golden glory too, after securing an AIBA gold medal for their Mind Your Head XPA earlier in the year. It’s from those two camps that Opening Doors emerges, with the alcohol-free hazy pale… Read more
Style
Non-Alc Hazy Pale
ABV
<0.5%

Hop Nation First Light & Dark Paradise Forever

Published August 5, 2022
If you like you’re beer bubbles to be tiny and the drink in your glass to cascade, then Hop Nation have you covered with two nitro cans. When it comes to the red ale First Light, those little bubbles do wonders too, with the smooth and fluffy beer a fitting match for the sweet and tongue-coating mix of toffee, caramel and Turkish delight. While those elements and the colour might have you dreaming of Irish pubs, First Light also shines across the Atlantic thanks to the use of Cryo Centennial and… Read more
Style
Nitro Red Ale & Nitro Rocky Road Pastry Stout
ABV
5.0% & 7.0%

Hop Nation The Kalash 2021 Bourbon & Whisky Edition

Published July 21, 2022
Where were you when you first tried The Kalash? Mine took place under the shining lights of GABS in Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building back in 2016 when Hop Nation first brewed it. Those were different days, Hop Nation’s founders Sam and Dunc had nothing but a trestle table serving as their stand, a jockey box and a few bottles of the bourbon-aged beer to crack open (those were much simpler times!). But while the brewery, their festival showing and the barrels used for the beer have all changed… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts
ABV
10.7% & 12.7%

Hop Nation x Mountain Culture Quick Jazz & Ukulele Solo & Dark Paradise Returns

Published July 12, 2022
Maybe it’s thanks to the beers they brew but Hop Nation and Mountain Culture really strike you as two breweries that would get along. For proof that, look no further than these two collaborations brewed at each other’s homes over some months. Quick Jazz is a lush Oatcream IPA made at Hop Nation’s Mornington brewery and uses Nelson Sauvin pellets and three different Cryo hops in Citra, El Dorado and Sabro. It makes for quite a mix of fruits with apricot coming to the fore first before it's joined… Read more
Style
Oatcream IPA, Decoction Maibock & Dark Paradise Returns
ABV
6.8%, 7.0% & 7.0%

Hop Nation Mother's Hybrid & Fallen Leaves

Published July 5, 2022
They’ve been honing in on the fine art of the collab at Hop Nation with two released at once. Mother’s Hybrid was brewed with the teams at Cryer Malt and Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) and makes use of the experimental hop, HBC 586. That unnamed hop is primarily known for its mix of tropical fruits but far from a one-trick pony, it can also bring some herbal and sulphur notes. But here in this hazy IPA, HBC 586 certainly seems to provide the mix of flavours haze fans love with mango, guava and lychee… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA & Red Rye IPA
ABV
Both 6.0%

Site Fermentation Project & Byrdi MTK

Published June 28, 2022
There must never be a dull moment at Hop Nation, with the brewers, winemakers and distillers constantly reaching across booze categories for new releases. MTK is a collaboration with Byrdi; the Melbourne cocktail bar that creates many of their own cocktail ingredients from scratch through fermentation, smoking and other means. The beer's name refers to its three hero ingredients of mango, tamarind and koji which were added to a blend of three blonde ales. The koji was created in-house by Byrdi and… Read more
Style
Mixed Culture Sour
ABV
5.6%

Hop Nation No Fool & Star Align Non-Alcs

Published June 22, 2022
It feels like a pretty good sign of the times that a brewery can releases not one, but two, alcohol-free beers in time for Dry July. No Fool is a non-alc raspberry kettle sour that’s been made with oats, wheat and a mix of barley malts and fermented with real raspberries. You may have already tried it when it poured at GABS but if not, you’ll find it quite packed to the rafters with raspberry. That’s not just on the flavour either, with the beer pouring a bright pink hue to complement the heavy… Read more
Style
Non-Alc Raspberry Sour & Stout
ABV
Both Less Than 0.5%

Hop Nation Zombie Pop Part 4 & Dark Paradise

Published June 15, 2022
Just when you thought it might be safe to go outside, Hop Nation have brought back the undead and launched what seems to be a decadent tribute to the depth of winter. Zombie Pop Part 4 sees the brewery once again pack as much fruit flavour as they can into an imperial sour, with the focus this time around being on pineapple. It might well be an 8.0 percent beer that includes lactose but on taking a sip, those thoughts of drinking a beer vanish immediately and in their wake is a the exact flavours… Read more
Style
Imperial Sour & Pastry Stout
ABV
8.0% & 7.0%

Hop Nation Get The Gist

Published May 18, 2022
Hazy IPAs are a well Hop Nation have regularly drawn beers from, and while there aren't really beer styles they don't explore, you can generally assume that if you haven't seen a new hazy from the brewery in a while, one will soon be on its way. Get The Gist takes a lot of what they love about such beers, namely a mix of modern hops and hop products, to deliver a lush, smooth and silky ride. Here the combination is one of Citra Cryo, Idaho 7 Cryo, Sabro Cryo and Motueka T90 pellets from New Zealand’s… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.8%

Hop Nation Ground Control 3

Published April 27, 2022
Hop Nation’s space-faring Ground Control has returned a little hazier and has charted a new fresh hop this time around. The series kicked off right at the end of 2020 as one of many beers released to showcase the newly-named Eclipse from Hop Products Australia. The following April, the Hop Nation team journeyed up the Hume to secure some freshly-plucked Eclipse from HPA and drove straight back to Melbourne to load them into a beer. Ground Control 3 again sees the brewery make their way to one… Read more
Style
Fresh Hop IPA
ABV
6.0%

Site Fermentation Poject: Lapin 2021

Published April 13, 2022
Lapin is a longstanding part of Hop Nation’s limited-release calendar, with the cherry-soaked sour sitting under the brewery’s Site Fermentation Project banner. Like the rest of those Site beers, the 2022 release - which celebrates the 2021 cherry harvest - has a new look thank to the brewery's longtime collaborator, Steve Leadbeater's artwork and comes in 375ml glass bottles. Starting life as a foeder-aged golden sour ale, Lapin 2021 was then refermented on Victorian Lapin cherries that were… Read more
Style
Mixed Culture Beer With Cherries
ABV
7.1%

Hop Nation Slama Lama Ding Dong & Neon Meerkat

Published March 24, 2022
Hop Nation have been living up to their name with these two hop-forward releases, which also sees the Melbourne brewery collaborate with different parts of the beer industry. There is the wonderfully named Slama Lama Ding Dong made with two of the finest arcade machine-filled craft beer venues in all the land, Sydney’s 1989 Arcade Bar and Brisbane’s Netherworld. Slama is a pale ale stacked with new season hops from America, with Simcoe Cryo, Citra Cryo and Cryo Pop all on show. It makes for a… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale & West Coast IPA
ABV
4.9% & 6.0%

Site Fermentation Project: Barrel Aged IPA With Pear Juice

Published February 21, 2022
Late in 2021, Hop Nation unveiled a new look and feel for their offshoot, Site Fermentation Project. Following in the footsteps of Syrah sour red and Oud Bruin is a beer that seems to follow a different approach altogether: 2022’s first Site beer is a barrel-aged IPA that’s been finished on pear juice. IPA and barrels aren't normally closely associated but here the idea has been to marry fruit-forward hop notes with the complexity of Brett as well as time with fruit in barrels. The beer was also… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged IPA With Pear Juice
ABV
8.1%

Hop Nation Plug & Play Level Up

Published January 18, 2022
On a personal level, a minor but consistently annoying part of the pandemic still being around is that every time you have to cancel socialising plans, you remember how close you were to buying a Nintendo Switch in March 2020 as a way to help pass away the hours. Given the amount of time that's since gone by, you could have plugged in and played enough of some games that you might rival your skills from those times a school holiday could disappear in an instant thanks to 64 and a TV with bunny ears. Embarking… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
6.0%

Hop Nation Zombie Pop Part 2

Published December 17, 2021
Back in October, Hop Nation were preparing for the apocalypse with Zombie Pop, an imperial sour filled with raspberries that arrived at a very fitting time given COVID case numbers in Victoria were shooting for the stars and Melbourne had just experienced an earthquake. Now in December, those numbers seem to be back shooting up and … look it doesn’t even seem right to write that there isn’t an earthquake when doing so feels like it will cause one to appear before this sentence is out. Mind… Read more
Style
Berry Imperial Sour
ABV
8.0%

Hop Nation & Blackhearts Old Dog New Trick

Published December 7, 2021
Common sayings can be terrible places to look for advice. A fool and his money are soon parted? Tell that to Donald Trump. Curiosity killed the cat? Don’t they have nine lives? Likewise, it feels like whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks probably didn’t spend much time around dogs or maybe had a desire to blame previous owners for bad behaviour. Sure, beer names are potentially no better a place to go when seeking sage advice, but Old Dog New Trick seems, at the very least, a… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale
ABV
4.2%

Site Fermentation Project: Oud Bruin & Syrah Sour Red

Published November 25, 2021
At this point, it’s safe to assume there’s no such thing as a slow moment at Hop Nation. They have homes in the Mornington Peninsula and Footscray and, alongside their regular range of beers – which welcomes new releases with some frequency – they recently started distilling, produce Ray seltzers, Site Wines, and the mixed culture-focused Site Fermentation Project. In both character and look, the last of those is a long way from static too; the brewery has rebranded the range right at the… Read more
Style
Mixed Culture Beers
ABV
8.7% & 7.6%

Hop Nation Mind Your Head & Walk Between Raindrops

Published November 8, 2021
Sometimes a helmet just isn’t enough to provide protection. That’s particularly true in spring, where one of life’s truly cruel twists of fate sees the season where conditions are perfect for exploring the world on a bike coincide with the moment when magpies really like to take aim at cyclists. Sure, they’re only protecting their young but you’ve got to protect yourself too; get some glasses or cable ties onto that helmet, ride through the sun and hope for the best. You could also protect… Read more
Style
Non-Alc XPA & Hazy IPA
ABV
<0.5% & 6.0%

Hop Nation Gaining Momentum

Published October 21, 2021
A few weeks on from taking on one of the newest IPA trends out of the States, Hop Nation have turned their eyes (quite literally if the can is anything to go by) to another with their first Cold IPA. The name Gaining Momentum quite likely refers to how much the Cold IPA trend - which you can read about here - appears to be taking off but considering it’s been released a day before Melbourne’s grand reopening, you can also think of it as an offering to the gods of lockdown that this one might… Read more
Style
Cold IPA
ABV
6.9%

Hop Nation First Dip & Zombie Pop

Published October 5, 2021
They’ve made plenty of hazy and sour beers at Hop Nation but spring 2021 has seen the brewery try their hand at some new approaches. First up is the brewery’s take on an emerging technique called dip hopping with First Dip. You can read more about the approach to brewing here but, in essence, it involves blowing off certain hop notes – particularly myrcene – while allowing others to stick around. In the case of Hop Nation, they’ve used the popular Strata, Mosaic Cryo, Citra Cryo and Galaxy… Read more
Style
Dip Hop IPA & Raspberry Imperial Sour
ABV
6.96% & 8.0%

Hop Nation Better Distractions & Jawbone

Published August 17, 2021
Melbourne’s latest 2021 lockdown might be looking a little too similar to 2020’s but, fortunately, Hop Nation have released two distractions, with one in the shape of a new hazy IPA and the other a returning beer from life before COVID. The aptly named Better Distractions was originally brewed for Akasha Brewing’s IPA Invitational, which was scheduled for August 7 but has been postponed due to, well, you know why. Given the success the brewery has found with their core range J Juice and many… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA & Stout
ABV
7.1% & 6.3%

Hop Nation Synchronicity & Enter The Vortex

Published August 6, 2021
It feels that Hop Nation are a brewery that can’t really miss at the moment. Hot off the back of securing multiple trophies at 2021’s Australian International Beer Awards, they re-release a pilsner that secured them one of those trophies and it sells out online within 24 hours and then they release a brand new hazy that sells out in about the same timeframe. The new hazy in question is Synchronicity, a double IPA that weighs in at 10 percent ABV and features Vic Secret, Idaho 7 and the hop blend… Read more
Style
Hazy Double IPA & Pastry Stout
ABV
10.0% & 8.0%

Hop Nation Site Fermentation Project Lapin 2020

Published June 22, 2021
For the third year running, Hop Nation have bundled together Victorian-grown cherries and a mixed culture beer to create Lapin. Named after the cherries, Lapin 2020 sits under the brewery’s wild-focused Site Fermentation Project banner and uses fruit picked at the end of 2020 in a one-year-old sour blonde beer left to ferment on said cherries for four months inside Hop Nation’s 70-year-old Port foeder. The new version might not pack the same boozy punch as the previous release but, having tried… Read more
Style
Cherry Sour Blonde Ale
ABV
4.8%

Hop Nation The Kalash 2021 Bourbon & Whisky Edition

Published June 7, 2021
Best laid plans, hey? The Kalash is the kind of beer launch that gets the Hop Nation crew really excited, giving them the chance to not only showcase their annual Russian imperial stout but also pour variations and back vintages of the same beer. For 2021, the plan wasn’t just to serve up Kalash flights but partner it with local chocolate too, and while that delicious pairing is on hold, it'll take place once COVID restrictions allow. In the meantime, both the bourbon-aged Kalash and the Whisky… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout
ABV
10.7% & 11.7%

Bodriggy Brewing & Hop Nation The People's Elbow

Published May 20, 2021
Among the many collaborative events running during Good Beer Week 2021 was Hop Nation and Bodriggy's battle, North X West Fight Club. Given it was one that involved brewery employees being dunked in tanks of water, you could assume it wasn’t the friendliest of collaborations, but we’ve been told everyone remains as good mates as ever. Launching at that event was The People’s Elbow, an imperial porter featuring each brewery transformed into mascots ready to do battle. The beer inside is 9.5… Read more
Style
Imperial Porter
ABV
9.5%

Hop Nation Max Capacity & Carbonado

Published May 18, 2021
Hop Nation are well and truly celebrating the good times that come with Good Beer Week 2021, with the brewery releasing two limited cans to line up with the weeklong celebrations. Max Capacity was launched at GABS Sydney before being given a wider release in cans and the “Festival IPA” is the Melbourne brewery’s tribute to the haze of a beer festival. It’s a beer that doesn’t just pack a lot of tropical hop flavours but also a variety of hops (or rather, hop products) into one beer. There’s… Read more
Style
Festival IPA & Barrel-Aged Stout
ABV
7.0% & 5.2%

Mismatch & Hop Nation Meet In The Middle

Published May 14, 2021
South Australia’s Mismatch join forces with Melbourne’s Hop Nation for Meet in the Middle, a beer designed to be equal parts West Coast and East Coast, complete with a solid haze for good measure. Originally planned for the cancelled 2020 Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival, it's instead been brewed in time for Good Beer Week 2021. And they didn’t mess around, going head with heavy-hitting hops Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe to rain down juicy tropical fruit and hazy deliciousness. As for the beer’s… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
8.0%

Hop Nation Fresh Hop Ground Control

Published April 6, 2021
When Hop Products Australia unveiled the name of their newest proprietary hop, Eclipse, in November 2020, the hop grower teamed up with a dozen brewers and Beer Cartel to mark the launch with a special mixed pack dedicated to the hop. The dozen beers were an impressive showcase too, particularly thanks to the diversity of beer styles brewed to explore what Eclipse can do; sure it's nice to know what flavours a hop imparts on an IPA but its just as exciting to see the tasting notes on display in a… Read more
Style
Fresh Hop West Coast IPA
ABV
7.0%

Hop Nation 30-G Single Hop Series

Published January 15, 2021
Hop Nation’s 30-G Single Hop Series is a journey into what can happen when a rather substantial volume of a single hop variety can do to four beers; each is a 7 percent ABV IPA triple-dry-hopped with 30 grams of the green stuff per litre of beer. Each of them is pale and hazy; first, let’s start with Cashmere, which was my personal pick of the quartet. Here, the American hop provides a hard to define but rich berry flavour, which sits closest to raspberries but also brought to mind blackberries,… Read more
Style
Single Hop IPAs
ABV
All 7.0%

Hop Nation Xolo & Single Foedre Sour Red

Published January 14, 2021
Hop Nation have welcomed in 2021 by taking the hazy world the Footscray-based brewery has spent years exploring in a slightly new direction. Xolo is a hazy IPA where the malt-bill is based on corn and along with Sabro, Galaxy and Mosaic, lime zest and mango were used in the brew too. That lime zest really makes its presence felt; adding a tart citrus hit which brought to mind a particularly tart mandarin before more classic hazy flavours of mango and yellow nectarine and a biting bitterness finishes… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA & Sour Red
ABV
Both 6.5%

Hop Nation Ground Control & Candyland

Published November 18, 2020
Hop Nation’s twin IPA releases in November manage to show off a new(ish) ingredient, a classic style, and craft brewing’s more modern direction. First up, Ground Control is a West Coast IPA brewed with Hop Product Australia’s newly-named Eclipse and is itself named after David Bowie's classic Space Oddity. It's a fitting showcase of Eclipse's mandarin-inducing qualities too, with Ground Control mostly singing that citrus note, joined by a little resinous pine and a quite prominently bitter… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA & Milkshake IPA
ABV
7.0% & 8.0%

Hop Nation Blobfish Saison 2019 & Mixed Packs

Published September 8, 2020
I have a confession to make. Over the years, here at The Crafty Pint we've done our best to make sure we sample the new releases we write about before we post about them. It's a task that's become easier as more beers have been packaged, even if the timeliness of our posts still depends on both brewery and the postal / courier service. In the case of the Blobfish Saison, timing was spot on: a bottle of the beer arrived at Crafty Towers the day before release to the public and, yet, it remains unopened… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Mixed Culture Saison
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

On sale from midday AEST Sept 8 from Hop Nation

Hop Nation Pastry Stout Series

Published June 12, 2020
The end of lockdown hasn’t just meant businesses are running a little closer to normal but punters dining out again have a few things to remember too. Was it a medium-rare or rare steak you used to order? The attempts at home were mostly chargrilled. Chips and salad or veggies and mash? And do you have a coffee with dessert or afterwards? What if the dessert is a banana split or some Reese’s Pieces? Is this the 90s? Are we in America? Just how long has this lockdown gone on and what’s it done… Read more
Style
Pastry Stouts
ABV
6.2% & 6.0% & 6.0%

Hop Nation The Kalash 2020 Bourbon & Whisky Editions

Published June 5, 2020
Hop Nation's The Kalash was first released by the then recently-opened brewery for GABS in 2016, with the main vintage each year sticking to the tried and true method of filling bourbon barrels with Russian imperial stout. There have been other versions – tweaks to the recipe, the use of different barrels – over the years and, for 2020, they've put out two versions out in tins as well as an accompanying whisky you can pair with the beers. The Bourbon Edition tips the scales at a mere 10.7 percent… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stouts
ABV
10.7% & 13.4%
Stockists

Launching at the brewery on June 5

Hop Nation Site Fermentation Project Lapin 2019

Published June 1, 2020
This time last year, Hop Nation released Lapin under their Site Fermentation Project banner: a blend of cherries and their foedre-aged sour blonde ale. It returns for winter 2020 but has taken a slightly different route to this point. The beer still features organic Lapin cherries from Mark’s Farm in Benalla, but this time they were added to the 3,000 litre oak vessel where the fruit-enhanced liquid was allowed to re-ferment for a few months longer. It still shares qualities with a French table… Read more
Style
Cherry Sour Blonde Ale
ABV
8.0%

Hop Nation Melbourne Fog

Published May 13, 2020
There's been many a beer make the transition from keg to can during the pandemic and you can add Melbourne Fog to the list. The pale ale started out as a collab between Hop Nation and Melbourne's Whitehart Bar and sits within the brewery's ever-growing canon of hazy, hoppy releases. It's a combination of Nelson Sauvin, Loral and Mosaic hops in partnership with no less than 50 percent oats in the grain bill that delivers the dense fog as well as hop flavours so textural it's almost like drinking fleshy… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale
ABV
4.8%

Hop Nation Seven Clouds Hazy IPA

Published February 22, 2020
For Moorabbin bar and bottleshop Grape & Grain's seventh birthday, Hop Nation brewed a one-off beer. Except it's no longer one-off as it proved popular enough to bring back on a larger scale. As the name hints, Seven Clouds offers not just a nod to the birthday bash but also to the land across The Ditch with Kiwi hops Taiheke, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin chosen to bring the birthday wishes. It's another hazy IPA from the brewery that does them well, this time with the addition of a lick of lactose,… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.3%

Hop Nation & Lervig Bearded Seal DDH Hazy IPA

Published December 14, 2019
One boon for Aussie brewers when events like Moon Dog's Mate Fest bring guests to town from across the globe is the opportunity it opens up for collaboration. Hop Nation leapt at that opportunity, welcoming Mike Murphy, the American behind much-loved Norwegian brewery Lervig, to Footscray and setting about creating the sort of beer fans of both brewers crave. The Bearded Seal – named after the heavy set creatures found in Norway (and featured in odd embrace on the labels) – is a DDH Hazy IPA.… Read more
Style
DDH Hazy IPA with fruit
ABV
8.0%

Hop Nation Site Fermentation Project Wine Series 2019

Published November 11, 2019
The weaving of their lives past, present and future continues for Sam and Dunc at Hop Nation with the release of the 2019 Wine Series. It's made up of a quartet that all underwent a similar process: discarded grapes from wineries across Victoria were added to the brewery's foedre-fermented sour blonde ale before undergoing a period of ageing in barrels; barrels that, in a fairytale kind of manner, appear on the labels as homes surrounded by flora, bugs and fungi, presumably a reminder of how much… Read more
Style
Beer-Wine Hybrids
ABV
6.0%

Hop Nation Organic Lager

Published October 25, 2019
Flick through the Rolodex of new releases from Hop Nation over the past couple of years and you'll find barrel-aged blends, hazies aplenty, fruit sours and wine. Yet the beer they've been putting as much time and effort into as any is something rather more straightforward: a lager. A lager in which the most remarkable or distinctive part is the fact it's certified organic: brewed using organically grown hops and malt. It's been designed with summer sessions in mind and, presumably, in the hope it… Read more
Style
Organic Lager
ABV
4.0%
Stockists

Launching at Hop Nation on the weekend of October 25-27 with $5 tinnies, $10 pints, and specials on takeaway purchases.

Hop Nation & Akasha East/West IPAs

Published October 21, 2019
If you were to compile a list of Aussie breweries best known for their hop forward releases, Sydney's Akasha would be up there. And, while they've diversified into many more areas of beer (and wine), Footscray's Hop Nation have a fair few hoppy beers with more than a few fans, led by their Jedi Juice NEIPA in the popularity stakes. So, when the pair decided to get together to brew a collab, it was only ever likely to go one way. Except it ended up going two ways, and not necessarily as you'd have… Read more
Style
IPAs
ABV
6.2% & 6.8%
Stockists

Akasha

Hop Nation

Forager’s Drop

Bar Josephine

Sneaky Baron

The Tap House

House of Brews

Blind Monk

More stockists...

Hop Nation Sweet & Sour Trio

Published September 13, 2019
Their Site Fermentation Project may have become home for their more esoteric sour beers but the Hop Nation team clearly feel there's still a place for beers from that ever-expanding realm to live within their original brand. In the case of the "Sweet & Sour" beers, there's room for three that share much in common: each features a hefty addition of fruit as well as a lick of lactose (the sweet). Taken in the order I opened them, Cobbler is a peach sour inspired by the dessert of the… Read more
Style
Fruit Cream Sours
ABV
4.5% / 5.0% /

Hop Nation Site Fermentation Project Turn The Page

Published September 13, 2019
Turn The Page is another Site release utilising a sour blonde ale base as the launchpad from which to play around with fruit, in this case rhubarb – plus vanilla as the aim is to bring rhubarb and custard to life in beer form. That said, while some of its predecessors have displayed some serious intensity on the sour and acidic front, here's a very different beast. It looks a little like a Bellini, from which rises a sherbet candy like tangy aroma. There's something perfume-esque too, with a sweetness… Read more
Style
Sour Blonde With Rhubarb
ABV
6.0%

Hop Nation Dreamfeed Hazy IPA

Published August 6, 2019
They were one of the first local operations to explore (intentionally) the world of hazy IPAs, have released more than their fair share and, in Jedi Juice, have one of the most popular. So expectations are going to be high when Hop Nation release another into the world. And expectations will likely be met with Dreamfeed, a beer that shows what can come from working within a style over and over. Unlike, say, their spiced Market IPA, there's little out of the ordinary here, other than, you might argue,… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.5%

Hop Nation Site Fermentation Project Red Rabbit 2018

Published August 6, 2019
The transition of the Site Fermentation Project beers by Hop Nation from bottle to can continues with Red Rabbit, a beer that owes something to their La Jeunesse Flanders style red and the Lapin Cherry Sour Blonde that was its immediate predecessor. It's a red ale that was initially aged in an oak foedre before being re-fermented on the very same cherries that lent their character to the Lapin. Inspired by Rodenbach's Alexander, Red Rabbit might have a claim to being the most intense experience found… Read more
Style
Sour Red Ale
ABV
6.5%

Hop Nation The Kalash 2019

Published June 20, 2019
The Kalash is one of the elder statesmen (or comrades) of the Hop Nation lineup, the Russian imperial stout that marches from the Footscray brewery once a year. It tends to vary a little year to year too, although they've stuck with bourbon barrels for the ageing process after it served them so well in 2018, while opting to pop him inside 375ml cans rather than tallboys. The bourbon barrels in which the liquid spent four months have served them well again, with the beer rolling from an initial oaky,… Read more
Style
Bourbon Barrel-Aged Russian Imperial Stout
ABV
9.8%
Stockists

Launching at the brewery on June 21 before heading nationwide.

Hop Nation Site Fermentation Project Lapin

Published June 20, 2019
The Site Fermentation Project is Hop Nation's funkier side, a place where you're as likely to find wine in a can as a mixed fermentation sour. Given the brewery is launching a festival – Blobfish – dedicated to wild, sour and funky beers, one assumes we'll see ever greater focus trained on this side of the business over time too. Lapin, while meaning rabbit in French and coming with such creatures adorning the labels, is instead a celebration of the 2018 cherry harvest, with some of the brewery's… Read more
Style
Foedre Beer With Cherries
ABV
6.0%

Hop Nation The Forager Blueberry NEIPA

Published June 6, 2019
The Forager first made an appearance late in 2018 as another entry in Hop Nation's NEIPA family, in this case adding blueberry to the mix. After receiving feedback on the beer, they decided to give it an overhaul ahead of its reappearance, with raspberry introduced to give the berry side of the beer a little more oomph. What's more, due to the increased acidity from the berries, a little lactose has been added this time around. As brewery co-founder Sam Hambour tells us: "While we are always… Read more
Style
Berry NEIPA
ABV
6.5%

Hop Nation Farm To Ferment Fresh Hop IPA

Published March 25, 2019
Making an IPA is nothing new for Hop Nation. Their first beer was The Fiend, an Australian hopped IPA. Then the brewery came to be loved for its hazy and New England-style IPAs like the Chop and Jedi Juice. So it could be easy for the team to put out a stock standard fresh hop IPA, with 100 percent Galaxy hops, and we’d all be in to it. On first appearances the 2019 fresh hop IPA seems pretty down-the-line. Clean malt bill (no haze to speak of), clear in the glass with fresh grass, peppery spice… Read more
Style
Fresh Hop West Coast IPA
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

The Goods Shed

And select good beer venues in Victoria

More stockists...

Hop Nation The Dawn Double NEIPA

Published September 5, 2018
As they prepared to open their Footscray brewery back in July 2016, Hop Nation founders Sam and Dunc wanted to mark the occasion with a beer. They chose to do so with an IPA, the style for which they've become best known despite the breadth of their output. The Dawn was one of the first beers in Australia to take its inspiration from New England and had the sort of deep haze later found within their best-selling one, Jedi Juice. And now it's back: in cans and destined for a far wider release. The… Read more
Style
Double NEIPA
ABV
9.0%
Stockists

Hop Nation brewery

And select good beer in VIC, ACT, NSW, QLD, TAS, SA & WA

Hop Nation The Kalash 2018

Published June 8, 2018
The Kalash is Hop Nation's annual winter centrepiece, a barrel aged Russian imperial stout that's tweaked a little from year to year. This time around, after playing around with wine and Port barrels in the past, the base beer was aged in seasoned bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill, Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniels and for less time than previous vintages – just four months – before being blended On the nose, there's hints of the oak and some indication of the nigh on 10 percent booze content… Read more
Style
Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout
ABV
9.7%
Stockists

Hop Nation

Melbourne Cellar Door

The Public Brewery

And select good beer venues in all states and ACT

More stockists...

Hop Nation Market NEIPA

Published January 26, 2018
It's fair to say Hop Nation was one of the Aussie breweries that was ahead of the curve when it comes to the New England style IPAs that have been all the rage over the past 12 months. While not tagged as such, their original Chop IPA had NEIPA-esque qualities and they've revisited the much debated style many times since, most notably with Jedi Juice. And now they're back with another, Market NEIPA, created for the Hop Quest event at Beer DeLuxe on Australia Day. As with a few beers we've approached… Read more
Style
Spiced NEIPA
ABV
6.7%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

And select Victorian venues

Hop Nation & Frankie's Acid Head Super Sour

Published October 24, 2017
There can be few, if any, venues in Australia that have taken part in as many collaborations as Sydney's Frankie's Pizza. Given it's a place where many brewery staff tend to end up late at night, it's easy to imagine how conversations could get started. Certainly, ever since they hosted their first multiple collaboration beer launch event at an earlier Sydney Craft Beer Week, there's been little let up. Among those making their debut at the 2017 Sydney Beer Week is Acid Head, the venue's collab with… Read more
Style
Hoppy Sour
ABV
5.5%

Hop Nation The Kalash 2017

Published June 9, 2017
With a name like The Kalash and an image of an armed soldier on the label, you'd expect there to be no messing with this beer. And that's certainly the case. Hop Nation duo Sam and Dunc put the base beer for the second vintage of their Russian imperial stout into bourbon and Port barrels (last year's went into Pinot Noir barrels, just so you know), where it spent months ageing before being blended into the final beer. And it's a big one. Tipping the scales at 10.2 percent ABV, this year's Kalash… Read more
Style
Russian Imperial Stout
ABV
10.2%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

And select venues on tap in Melbourne

Hop Nation The Sturm 2017

Published June 2, 2017
The Sturm is the beer that, perhaps more than any other, highlights the story of Sam and Dunc at Hop Nation. They're winemakers turned brewers and this is a wine meets beer kind of a beverage, one named after the low alcohol fermented grape juice traditionally consumed in Germany during grape harvest. This is the second year they've made it, again hooking up with Jamsheed Wines to get their hands on some wild fermenting Riesling juice – more than in 2016's debut brew – and combining it with a… Read more
Style
Beer-Wine Hybrid
ABV
5.0%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

And other select Melbourne venues

Hop Nation & Exit & Big Shed Black Rhino Cherry Lips

Published April 7, 2017
In their relatively short existences, Hop Nation and Big Shed have proven themselves to be keen collaborators. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before they hopped into the metaphorical bed together. When they did, they turned it into a threesome too, with Exit Brewing paying a visit to Footscray to lend a hand. While Hop Nation's collabs have tended to be relatively sensible, Big Shed's – particularly with Doctor's Orders – have known no bounds. And it appears this one has headed in the… Read more
Style
Smoked Black Cherry Gose
ABV
5.5%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

And select venues in Sydney and Melbourne

Hop Nation The One Tug Fresh Hop IPA

Published March 3, 2017
Of all the fresh hop beers that will be hitting taps throughout this hop season, we doubt you'll find one much fresher than this. Hop Nation clearly decided to live up to their name, not only choosing to brew another IPA but to get the hops from the farm and into the beer as fast as humanly possible (well, short of some sort of air travel). They headed to Ellerslie Hop in the Victorian High Country, pulled down enough bines – using "the one tug" for each – to be able to handpick 60kg… Read more
Style
Fresh Hop IPA
ABV
6.8%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

Melbourne BeerFest

Hop Nation & Sawmill The Expat Double IPA

Published February 8, 2017
Those who know Hop Nation know that founders Sam and Duncan are both winemakers who met working in vineyards and travelled the world before deciding to start making beer in Melbourne. It turns out they're not the only people within their group of mates to follow that path; Duncan's mate Logan Richmond ended up working for the Sawmill brewery in New Zealand, and it was Sawmill's old brewery that Hop Nation bought when setting up their home in Footscray. Earlier this year, they reunited at Sawmill… Read more
Style
Double IPA
ABV
8.6%
Stockists

Hop Nation Brewery

Hop Nation & Up In Smoke Red Haze

Published November 10, 2016
The beer scene in Melbourne's west has been coming into its own in some style in the past few years. Two of the more recent additions are Hop Nation, the brewery opened by a pair of winemakers, and Up In Smoke, a venue combining craft beer with smoked meats. And now the two have come together to create Red Haze, a beer that combines their two passions (and names): hops and smoke (and smoked malt for good measure). Sam and Dunc from Hop Nation took some ingredients along to Up In Smoke's kitchen.… Read more
Style
Smoked Red Ale
ABV
7.0%

Hop Nation The Dawn East Coast IPA

Published August 18, 2016
There's been a fair bit of chat about East Coast IPAs in the deeper reaches of the local beer scene recently. These hazy (or often well beyond hazy), highly fruity IPAs have been the cause of some controversy, best articulated locally in the Ale of a Time article we linked to in last Friday's newsletter. But, controversy aside, of most interest to Aussie beer and hop fanciers will be that a few brewers are starting to explore the style here (although not using flour yet, as far as we're aware). Among… Read more
Style
East Coast IPA
ABV
7.0%
Stockists

Hop Nation

Hop Nation The Kalash Russian Imperial Stout

Published May 13, 2016
Brewer's notes: Dunc and Sam pulled from their winemaking contacts to secure premium, seasoned Pinot Noir puncheons to put this brew together. After six months ageing in French barrels, this aggressive Ruski, named after the notorious Kalashnikov rifle and weighing in at a heavy 10.2 percent alcohol, takes no prisoners and asks no surrender. This rich, brewding beast will take you to the dark side. Barrel-aged in 500 litre oak puncheons, the subtle oak influence integrates with chocolate, tar and… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
ABV
10.2%

Hop Nation The Sturm

Published May 1, 2016
It takes a fair bit to stand out in a bottleshop fridge these days, but The Sturm is the sort of beer to catch the eye of any beer hunter on the lookout for something different. For a start, the "label", if it can be called such, is stencilled on to the bottle. Then there's the wax-dipped top. And then, if you've been lured in, you'll notice the stencil features hops and grapes. Yes, here Sam and Duncan combine their two careers in one with a beer-wine hybrid. The Sturm is a collaboration… Read more
Style
Beer Wine Hybrid
ABV
5.0%