Bridge Road Brewers will release its 2018 single hop IPA series on August 1, to coincide with International IPA Day on August 2.

This year, Bridge Road has upped the ABV to 6 per cent and dropped the malt profile to create a beer that the brewery says represents something closer to a West Coast IPA, when compared with its previous series releases.

Owner and brewer Ben Kraus said he’s fairly certain Bridge Road is the only brewery “in the known universe” doing an annual single hop series release using 4 Australian hop varieties.

“And in the universal scale of things, these hops were either grown or developed and bred, or both, in our own backyard,” he said.

Bridge Road’s single hop IPA series includes:

Enigma Single Hop IPA

Enigma IPA is part of a series of single Aussie hop IPAs. Enigma is a hop variety developed by Hop Products Australia that shows characters quite different to the typical Australian hop. Those who’ve ploughed into the Galaxy and Ella IPAs will find this hop to be more closely aligned to varieties from New Zealand. Showing flavour and aroma similar to Riesling grapes, berries and some more over-ripe pungent melon notes.

Galaxy Single Hop IPA

Our single hop IPA highlights the character of a locally grown hop variety, Galaxy. We have added generous amounts of whole hop flowers to this brew, both in the kettle and the conditioning tank.

Vic Secret Single Hop IPA

In 2011, Bridge Road brewed the first ever commercial beer using Vic Secret, when it was still part of an R&D program, and before it even had a name. We are thrilled that this hop is now available commercially. This hop gives beer a strong ripe fruit aroma and a solid resinous pine like finish.

Ella Single Hop IPA

This single hop IPA, the second in our series, highlights the character of a locally developed hop variety, Ella. We have added a generous amount of Ella whole hop flowers to this brew, both in the kettle and the conditioning tank. It is our attempt to show you the true characters of this hop.