When you look at the top restaurants around the world, no matter what cuisine they may focus on, there’s one commonality they all share, and that’s deep relationships with those who grow and raise the very best ingredients. It’s the same in beer—you can’t be the best at what you do without the meaningful, personal, financial, and long-standing relationships that ensure the brewery has access to the very best quality ingredients. These relationships don’t materialize overnight, but for Firestone Walker, they’re the product of 30 years of work. In this series, we highlight a number of these crucial growers, brokers, and processors who have played a role in the world-class beer that Firestone Walker makes.

Episode 3: Anywhere & Everywhere

In this third episode of the Source Material series, we look at the international reach of hops with which Firestone Walker brews and head to New Zealand for a conversation with Brent McGlashen of Mac Hops, part of the bigger NZ Hops collective. Brent’s family has been farming hops down in Motueka for five generations, and their two farms produce quite a bit of the New Zealand hops that make their way into Firestone Walker beer. Joining from Firestone Walker is Tim Miller, raw materials manager and brewer, and it’s Tim’s job to source the highest quality ingredients, test and analyze them, and make sure that what comes into the brewery is what they expect to come in. Finding great hops wherever they’re grown, whether that’s Nelson, New Zealand, or Germany’s Hallertau, is a big focus for Firestone Walker, and the long-term grower relationships they’ve built over the past 30 years stretch far beyond North America to anywhere and everywhere that great hops are grown.

Intro music: VintageGroove / Pond5