It’s all about balance – that’s what Andy Duke at b.effect says about his latest brewing escapades. Down in Wānaka, he’s been using hemp in a number of b.efect beers, which gives new flavour profiles, adds body to gluten-free beers, and has resulted in some delicious, well-received brews.
Hemp New Zealand, where Duke has been sourcing his hemp, are based in the mid-Canterbury region. They produce a range of hemp ingredients including oil, hemp hearts and protein. Business development manager Nigel Hosking has been involved with the industry for over 20 years.
“Hops have got their own different flavour notes, terpenes and flavonoids, and things like that,” Hosking says. “Hemp’s got a vast array of terpenes and flavonoids across them as well. You’ve got your pineapples, citrus, lavenders, lemons, and all these other, different ones.”
At the moment, the flowers aren’t able to be used due to regulations around the level of THC, so it’s just the hemp protein for now. There are two hemp fractions that come off their protein mill – one of those fractions is what goes into the brewing that Duke has been doing.
“When we crush our seed, we get our de-oiled seed cake or our hemp seed meal. We’ve got an inhouse protein mill which we run that seed cake through – that de-oiled seed – and we get two fractions off it, we get a fine fraction, which is our 50% plant-based protein, and we get a coarser fraction, which has still got 23% protein in it, but it’s a fibre bran.”
The finer fraction is high in soluble fibre and used in health food products. It’s the coarser fraction that’s getting used for beer. Duke says he believes they’re the only ones using the seed protein and seed cake through their mashing process with a little added in the kettle, while others may be using leaf.
“We’re imparting some flavour and some protein as well as nutrients that are assisting with the ferment and we’re finding that we’re getting a really nice nutty caramel flavour out of it,” Duke says. “It’s great in our IPA and we’re finding we get a really dense haze in our hazy.”
Hosking says he’s seen hemp being used in beers overseas, but that the flavour just wasn’t right. Getting the temperature and timing perfect is important. If Duke adds it when it’s too cold, the mash sticks, too warm and they get musty, bitter mushroomy characters. “We’re just complementing an already good beer with a new flavour.”
Duke explains that they would like to use the flowers and both parties are looking forward to a change in what is allowed to be used – they’re optimistic that it will be possible soon. As long as the THC is less than 1%, Hemp New Zealand will be able to grow different varieties commercially. It’s been well-received politically, with Regulation Minister David Seymour even photographed with a can of b effect hemp beer when he made the hemp reform announcement late last year.
In announcing the reforms, Seymour said the hemp industry had been treated like a criminal for too long.
“The industry has been held back by outdated, heavy-handed rules that treat growing low-risk crops like high-risk drugs. That ends now.”
Hemp NZ are currently trialling low-THC plants.
“I’m in year two trials at the moment, I’ve got crop in the ground now in a small trial area,” Hosking says. “I will then take the flowering top, send those away to the laboratory, get them tested for THC, and that’s all part of our process.”
Another benefit of using hemp has been to gluten-free beers, making them fuller bodied. With a rise in those choosing gluten-free options, it makes for a nice range that isn’t as thin as some other alternatives on the market.
“If we can start using the leaf and the whole plant, then the gluten-free beer becomes a beer rather than a mess. We’ve made a giant leap forward in that flavour profile.”
We’ve seen breweries in New Zealand use hemp in beers, but it will be interesting to see if others pick it up and run with it, especially with law changes allowing the full plant to be used. Duke and Hosking would both love to see other breweries using it, too, “But obviously we want to be the first brewery to get that R and D with the hemp flower,” Duke adds.
The use of these flowers could mean a bit of a shakeup for New Zealand’s hop industry, although I don’t personally see a future where hemp overtakes hops. I do, however, see a future where the two can be blended to create different styles and flavour profiles and fresh-hemp beers.
“At the end of the day, it’s a product that’s sitting in a warehouse that was probably going to waste,” Duke says. “It was a big roll of the dice, we didn’t pilot kit it, we just went straight in.”