Hot Days and Happy Hops: A Preview of the 2025 Australian Hop Harvest
Looking ahead at the 2025 Australian hop harvest with insight from our friends at Hop Products Australia.
The 2025 Australian hop harvest is shaping up to be a standout season, thanks to favorable weather conditions. Our friends at Hop Products Australia (HPA) have reported strong growth and robust plants. Combine this with the commissioning of HPA Hop Central—their new pelleting, packaging, and cold storage facility—and brewers can expect another year of high-quality Aussie hops.
“Every March, hundreds of brewers make the pilgrimage to High Country Victoria and Southern Tasmania to experience the sights, sounds and smells of HPA’s Aussie hop harvest. Our farms are set in the foothills of rugged mountain ranges where the summer days are long, the soil is rich, and the water is abundant. Imagine standing on a gently sloping hillside looking over a sea of hop gardens, listening to a symphony of cockatoos and crickets as big, bold, fruity hop aromas drift up from the kiln floors below.”
Grace Irwin, Marketing Manager, HPA
Conditions
HPA’s Australian growing regions experienced a dry and cold winter, creating the ideal conditions for a productive off season. The hops were also very happy over summer, with wet and hot conditions resulting in strong plant growth and the greatest number of flowering sites in recent memory. This is expected to provide average or above-average yields.
Facilities
Having successfully commissioned HPA Hop Central in time to process crop 2025, HPA is very excited about the potential impact on product quality. The design for their new state-of-the-art pelleting, packaging, and cold storage facility was focused on addressing quality concerns associated with operating two small, aging pellet plants. At HPA Hop Central, they have harnessed 100% cold-chain bale shipping and storage, temperature-controlled production rooms, and modern pelleting and packaging equipment. This highly efficient operation will enable HPA to significantly reduce processing time, retain a higher percentage of total oils in the finished product, and minimize residual oxygen in the final packaging. Their investment in HPA Hop Central will reduce the spread of analytical data across Australian hop lots, which will translate to more consistent performance in beer.
“HPA’s vision of success is very clear—deliver the highest possible quality with the lowest possible variance so that brewers have one less production challenge to face.”
Owen Johnston, Head of Sales & Marketing, HPA
Supply & Expected Yields
The global oversupply of hops has affected the Australian crop, causing HPA to idle several gardens that were added in their latest acreage expansion. HPA used this opportunity to focus on soil health management and cycling aging rootstock to ensure the idle acres are in peak condition when demand increases.
| Variety | 2024 Yield (metric tons) | 2025 Forecast (metric tons) | Year-on-Year Variation |
| Eclipse® | 69 | 83 | 19.8% |
| Ella™ | 55 | 85 | 55.7% |
| Enigma® | 41 | 32 | -21.8% |
| Galaxy® | 879 | 759 | -13.7% |
| Topaz™ | 28 | 15 | -45.7% |
| Vic Secret™ | 251 | 224 | -10.6% |
| Total | 1,341 | 1,210 | -9.8% |
The 2025 forecast is estimated based on average yields over the past several years. HPA expects Eclipse® to increase as plantings continue to mature and produce higher yields. Ella™ will also increase in response to contracted demand.
Despite a decrease in the overall yield forecast, HPA is particularly excited to see Galaxy® continue its comeback. After some glowing feedback on the quality and consistency of crop 2024, they are hoping the commissioning of HPA Hop Central will lead to further improvement across their entire portfolio.
The charts above support this sentiment of increasing quality and consistency, showing a significant reduction in the spread of analytical data for crop 2024 Galaxy across oil content, overall hop aroma intensity (OHAI), and true-to-typeness (TTT). We’re extremely excited to see how the commissioning of HPA Hop Central impacts the crop 2025 results.
This year’s hop harvest is shaping up to be an exciting one, with the promise of high-quality Australian hops from HPA making their way stateside around July 2025. As we count down to their arrival, follow HPA and Haas social media for harvest updates, behind-the-scenes previews, and all the latest on your favorite varieties. Stay tuned for crop availability and Aussie-hopped beer releases as we make our way toward American hop harvest later this year.
