— Pikimai Hops
The Farm
Pikimai Hops is a new family owned and operated hop garden, located on the side of the beautiful Motueka River in the Nelson region at the top of the South Island. Its first harvest was in 2018 and it has reached full of 30 hectares (75 acres) since 2020 harvest.
Our strengths
The “small” size of the farm allows us to set everything we can so the hop is healthy and get the best quality possible when harvested. Harvest is always managed to process the hop at its prime maturity. Among measures applied to obtain the best quality of hops, we do:
Very limited use of chemicals, choosing natural products like fish oil and compost to nourish the soil
Rows between plants are stirred and seeded with grass to improve aeration and nutrition of the soil
We cultivate parcels around the hop fields with a mix of flowers and plants to develop a natural protection against pests and diseases
Sheep are put in the hop fields just before harvest to “clean” the bottom of the plants, avoiding any human action or the use of chemicals to do it
We process the hop during harvest in a way that allows us to have less than 0,5% impurities (leaf and stalk)
We dry the hop at low temperature to maximize the preservation of oils
— 6 different hops available
The hops
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New Zealand Cascade (CA)
NZ Cascade is more aromatic than his American cousin. It shows this year floral and spices aromas with beautiful notes of peppery mint and lime.
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Motueka (MK)
World known, Motueka hop brings great notes of tropical fruits and citrus. The perfect ally in a fruity beer !
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Nelson Sauvin (NS)
The last but not the least, the rock star of all NZ varieties... here's the Nelson Sauvin ! Well known of all brewers, Nelson Sauvin is recognizable among all other hop varieties thanks to its predominant aroma of white wine.
Adding to that, this year it is very fruity, we get notes of stone fruits (peach) and kiwi !
— At your service
Jordan Court
I am Jordan, I have contributed to Pikimai Hops farm’s development since its beginning in 2018 until its first harvest and since I am going back to the farm each year to help when modifications have to be done and to help for harvest.
PikNZell is the outcome of the agreement developed with Pikimai Hops, with the will to supply the market with first quality hops, to insure its traceability while being at the closest of the breweries and to grow a healthy relationship with them.