First released in 1996 and rebranded 11 years later, Motueka has garnered a reputation for its magical ability to enhance the aroma and flavour of any other hops it’s used with, explains Michael Donaldson for NZ Hops ltd.

Hop breeder Kerry Templeton, who leads the hop breeding programme at New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research, describes Motueka simply: “If you don’t like Motueka, you don’t like hops.”

The breeding team so highly regards Motueka they use it as a the base hop in all the weekly brew trials they do on their small pilot kit — they then add new trial hops to see how they perform.

The reason they use Motueka is simple: it delivers clean, pleasant and well-balanced bittering, providing the perfect backdrop for other hops to shine. 

And in the experience of brewers around the globe, it also has a magical ability to enhance the aroma and flavour of any other hops it’s used with.

Motueka carries some of the same noble character as its Saaz ancestry with a bright and lively lemon and lime, but there’s also some tropicals, florals, spicy-herbal notes and even stonefruit. And many brewers report a delightful creamy note. 

It’s a genuine multi-purpose hop as it possesses decent alpha acid weight and beautiful aromatics, so it can adeptly fit into any stage in the brew process from timed additions to whirlpool and dry-hop.

The combination of oils (08-1.4%) and alpha acids (5.5-10%) are well suited to higher gravity styles, and its mix of noble and new world genetics naturally work well in traditional pilsners and lighter-style pale ales. 

First released in 1996 it was originally known as B Saaz, short for Belgian Saaz. That name came from the fact it had been “adopted” by a Belgian brewery, Alken-Maes.

The hop was rebranded Motueka in 2007, named for the small town at the top of the South Island that’s central to hop growing in the region.

James Heffron, founder of Cornwall’s popular brewery, Verdant, is a massive fan of Motueka.

“It’s got that amazing lime quality but that’s just one part of it,” Heffron says. 

“On the surface it has the lemon-lime, sherbert, creamy quality. That’s the initial hit, which excites me, and then there’s some extra depth. It doesn’t suffer from that garlicky or oniony flavour that some hops deliver when picked late, but you can get a layer of sweatiness and dankness and strong herbal vibes like lemon thyme or sage. 

“It’s got interesting oils and it’s not all just up-front flavour, it’s got this sustainable power.

“On the bittering side it’s so smooth, not aggressive. You can load it up on the hot side — in the kettle or whirlpool — and dry-hop heavily as well and what you get is a saturated expression of the hop without it being too bitter or bitey. 

“So for a New England style or hazy, that’s really important — to use a lot of it and for it to come across smooth and gentle is amazing.”

Across the Atlantic, Jude La Rose from Chicago’s Hop Butcher for the World uses Motueka a lot after falling in love with it a few years ago when he tried in a wheat ale from fellow Chicago brewery Half Acre.

He is now an unabashed fan of Motueka, saying it works in every style of beer and makes every beer better.

“It was the first time I had read the word ‘Motueka’ and it was such a great aroma and such a great beer, I still remember it 10 years later.

“Nothing can deliver a true lemon and line character like Motueka can.”

From wheat ales, to pilsners, IPAs and hazies, he says Motueka works in any style of beer.

“Motueka can work well in a lager with cracker-like pilsner malt; it can it play well with big juicy hops in a hazy IPA and it can work in a pale ale. It can work when it’s dialled up and it can work when you want it dialled down.

“And you can use it in all phases of the brew: timed additions, whirlpool, dry hop.”

He sees one of Motueka’s greatest assets as being its ability to step up and star or play a superb supporting role.

“If you were to make a beer and feature just one hop that can entirely carry the character of the beer … Motueka can do that. But if you’re looking to add some complexity or edge, or another kind of ‘colour’ to the aroma-flavour palette, Motueka can do that – it has no problem taking a back seat and brightening up or augmenting whatever is around it.”

La Rose talks about hop flavours in colours, describing Citra, for example as “orange and yellow”.

“Citra is undeniably a great hop and is unmistakable. It produces these big orange and yellow flavour colours – if you wanted to add more yellow and green to that mix, to us there’s no other hop but Motueka to do that. It adds this top note — like the treble in music — of lemon and lime that sings a little bit higher.”

Like James Heffron, he also loves the creamy tang that Motueka can add, making it a great hop in wheat beers.

“I think that there is a common thread all New Zealand hops are tethered to – that a wild sense of New Zealand terroir, of grassiness, of earth-driven flavour and aromatics. Motueka has that plus a vanilla, creamy character to it, almost a Greek yoghurt type of flavour.”

Motueka, naturally, is used widely in New Zealand, across a range of styles. Mike Sutherland of Sawmill Brewing, based in Matakana, north of Auckland, describes Motueka as a “workhorse” — the equivalent to a kitchen staple which every brewery should have on hand.

“Like using lime with food, the citrus character in this hop makes your entire hop load pop out of the glass. Its versatility means we can use it across the spectrum of styles, from light lagers to robust IPAs.”