Young Henrys have just released a new hemp infused craft beer

Craft beer rockstars Young Henrys have hooked up with Byron Bay clothing brand and hemp advocates Afends to release one of the first legal hemp beers in Australia, and the first to use brand new water soluble hemp oil technology. Simply dubbed the Hemp IPA, the beer was brewed to reinforce Afends’ initiative of promoting sustainability amongst industries and consumers, extolling the benefits of hemp and its vast array of uses.

Afends, famous for their hemp incorporated in food, clothing and now beer, tapped the Sydney beer heroes who first started experimenting with the beer 12 months ago.

“We’re like-minded souls from different games who see that things should be and could be different”, explained Young Henrys co-founder, Oscar McMahon, speaking on Afends. “We wanted to shine a light on the positive of hemp as a health food, as a textile, as a building material and as a beer ingredient. We have made this beer together with the help of some incredibly intelligent heavy hitters from the hemp and science world to show there is more substance to this concept than just some middle finger rebellion”.

Contained in the beer is a crushable hemp and hop blend, resulting in a sticky profile with an aroma of citrus, tropical and stone fruits with some spice berry. It is said to be rounded out by biscuit and toasted bread flavours which bring balance to the resinous vegetal notes from organic hemp oil, pioneered by Daniel Schultz of Halcyon BioScience, and hop hash.

“The organic hemp oil used to make this hemp beer has retained all the goodness and character of hemp thanks to an innovative natural process that allows it to instantly dissolve into beer and other beverages, without any chemicals or heat”, explained Schultz.

The water oil was added after fermentation, when hops are added to the beer to create punchy, zesty, resinous and fruit-forward aromas and flavours. Hop Hash, a by-product of the pelletizing process and a more sustainable solution to solely using pelletized hops in beer production, was also added at this point.

For those curious, we’ve included the constitution of the Hemp IPA below:

Malt Bill: Pale, Munich, Wheat Maly, Rolled Wheat, Supernova
Hops: Summit, Mosaic, El Dorado, Azacca, Centennial Hop Hash (Compacted resin
and green matter), Hemp Oil
Style: Tropical Hemp IPA
Strength: 5.5% ABV

Available on tap and in cans, the Young Henrys & Afends Hemp IPA will be rolled out at selected venues and retailers nationwide from 24th October 2018.

Photo by Zac Miguel.

Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.