Our Story

We’re a hop grower in Nelson, New Zealand, obsessed with growing the most flavourful, unique and intensely aromatic hops in the world. We’re on the cutting edge of new hop innovations in breeding, growing and processing with the performance of our hops in finished beer our central focus. We collaborate directly with amazing craft breweries around the globe and work directly with all of our customers. We grow 9 of New Zealand’s favourite varieties, along with numerous advanced selections from our joint venture breeding programme with Garage Project in Wellington and MPI, as well offering new products like our SubZero Hop Kief™.

We grow, pick, dry and pelletise all our own hops, allowing us to optimise each step of the process, from field to foil in less than 72 hours, to deliver hops of unparalleled intensity and character. We’re passionate about growing super flavourful, unique and intensely aromatic hops and working directly with craft brewers from around the globe.

Our farms

Freestyle Hops sits at the top of Te Tauihu (the South Island) of Aotearoa, New Zealand in Nelson’s iconic Moutere Valley. We're slightly to the left of Nelson in the ancient clay gravels of Sunrise Valley, at the head of Nelson's iconic Moutere Valley, renowned for the flavours and aromas of its vineyards, orchards and hopyards. We also have hops from our newest location, Nelson Lakes Farm, which is situated on the edge of Nelson Lakes National Park, about 2 hours south of our Sunrise Valley home. This is an exciting opportunity for us to get you more hops, new varietals and to highlight exciting new terroir.

Caring for our land

We believe in kaitiakitanga (stewardship) of our land, knowing that we are responsible for its health and vitality. As momentary custodians of this remarkable piece of land, we seek to do it justice. Exceptional hops can only come from healthy soils. We follow regenerative farming practices, grow spray-free hops, use varied inter-row plantings, and take care of our soil.

Our unique soils are made up of clay rich loam and river gravels. The maritime microclimate of the Sunrise Valley has exceptionally high UV levels relative to growing degree days. When combined with the excellent diurnal temperature range, it allows us to develop outrageous levels of aromatic compounds in our hops.

This combination allows us to grow hops of unparalleled quality and character that intimately reflect the natural environment in which they grow. We strive to have a gentle touch in all that we do, from field to foil, to express our love of this land.

Sustainability

We are conscious of the life cycle and CO₂ intensity of our hops and do everything we can do reduce our impact on the environment. We are particularly proud of our spray free and regenerative agricultural practices that result in our hops being amongst the best in the world in terms of sustainability and impact. We don’t use fungicides or insecticides on our hops and we don’t use herbicides during the growing season. We’re really proud that our on-farm practices and supply chain choices allow us to get hops to brewers around the world in a sustainable way.

Breeding Programme

Our breeding programme, in partnership with Garage Project in Wellington and MPI, plays a key role at Freestyle Hops. A lot of research, development, hard work and trial and error goes into finding interesting new hop selections. From searching out intriguing advanced selections, to intensive sensory analysis and trial brewing, we are constantly in search of exciting new hops that taste amazing in beer. Contact us if you’d like to know more.