Polly’s Brew Co is launching a new range of beers coming under the umbrella of The Hop Studio, showcasing some of the world’s greatest hop varieties.
The brewer declares: “Through every iteration of our growth over the last demi-decade, whether it was those first ever Loka Polly two-hop showcases, through the Augment range, still carrying the brewery on its shoulders and soldiering on today, to the more recent Core and Icons ranges, joining our output here at Polly’s, one thing that has persisted throughout is this brewery’s love of hops, and how we’ve born an entire business from this love.
“As a brewery with so much pride in this fundamental part of our beers, we feel it’s our responsibility to create and share experiences and journeys for drinkers of all walks of life, whether it’s a newly introduced craft beer drinker enamoured in that mind-blowing experience with their first Citra-hopped beer, all the way up to the seasoned beer nerds actively seeking the newest HBC number released from the United States.”
The Hop Studio range aims to “display the sometimes very subtle, sometimes very overt differences between the most wonderfully complex component in our brewing process, bar none”.
The launch beers
Galaxy IPA (6.5% ABV)
“Our use of Galaxy dates all the way back to our very first commercially released beers. We’ve always loved how the incredibly high oil content in this varietal creates a certified explosion of fruit-forward aroma and flavour compounds that lend themselves so perfectly to our modern hop-forward beers. Think a certified punchbowl of passionfruit, peach, and super clean citrus notes in this all-out banger of an IPA.” (brewery notes)
Strata IPA (6.1% ABV)
“The absolute phenomenon known as Strata first landed at Polly’s HQ in 2022 and we, like the rest of our contemporaries, were absolutely blown away by the aroma and flavour compounds in this darling of the craft beer industry. A full-on explosion of layered mango, passionfruit, fresh strawberries, and melon, along with a dank herbal note of drifting cannabis. Producers Indie Hops weren’t lying when they described this incredible varietal as ‘passionfruit meets pot’.”
Talus IPA (6% ABV)
Talus first graced our brew plans towards the back end of 2021, and after the delight that was Sabro, when we heard there was a daughter varietal cultivated through open pollination, we stuck our hands straight in the air to get our hands on this enticing new varietal. A little more refined than its parent hop, we love how Talus delivers big, bold aromas of pink grapefruit, tropical fruits, and citrus rinds, as well as a herbal edge of dried roses and sage, all the while retaining those impactful flavour profiles of its parentage.
Wai-iti Pale Ale (5% ABV)
A world renowned, but new to Polly’s, varietal, we wanted to kick things off with a classic from New Zealand for our first single-hop NZ showcase in Wai-iti. First released in 2011 as a grand-daughter of the USDA-developed Liberty, and a triploid hop derived from Hallertau Mittelfruh, we were expecting a bombastic explosion of aroma and flavour when we used it in this beer, but were blown away by how potent this hop is; picking up heavy notes of freshly squeezed limes, ripe apricots, and peaches with cream.
• Find out more about the Hop Studio series on the Polly’s blog.
