One short hop for a brewer, one giant green-hopping for mankind

The Conehead has landed.

The long wait is finally over with our 2015 Harvest Conehead Air-Hopped IPA hitting retail outlets and craft beer bars as of this weekend (18 April).

We know how much you coners hang out for our signature green hop brew each year, so we decided to double the batch on last year and crossed the boarder, chartering a Sounds Air Cessna Caravan to collect 800kg of fresh green hops from Motueka.

Traditionally, we've sent our brewers on a Nelson roadie to help harvest and collect the hops. However, this year's massive haul and necessity to brew it as soon as possible to ensure optimal freshness meant a more efficient means of transport was called into play.

Our brewer, Rik Valentine, played the role of hop mule, jumping onboard the Cessna in the wee hours to collect the haul of Nelson Sauvin hops – the largest amount of green hops to be shipped in by a Wellington craft brewery.

The plane made a cursory stop in Blenheim where seats were biffed out to make room for 10 cubic metres of green hops, then flew on to the Nelson Aero Club where the precious cargo was loaded and flown back to the brewery (conveniently situated next to Paraparaumu Airport) for immediate brewing whilst the hops were still at their freshest.

Rik said the harvesting team at McGlashan Hops in Motuteka were dedicated beyond the call of duty, working right through the night to take advantage of the momentary lapse of stormy, wet weather which would compromise the state of the hops.

"They were up at 3am dodging the rain, picking hops and cleaning off harvesting machinery to ensure the oils from the last harvest wouldn't contaminate this one. It's complete dedication to the crop and to us," he said.

Rik reckons air-hopping the haul paid off, touting the batch as "one of the best yet" – read up on the tasting notes and where it's pouring here.