Hop City 2026
Breweries pouring Indie Hops beers at Hop City 2026
Indie Hops are more than just a hop producer. Through a unique partnership with the Oregon State University's Hop Breeding & Development programme they research and create brand new hop varieties and introduce them to market through the Indie Hops Flavor Project. Brewers here in the UK and Ireland have fallen in love with Indie Hops Strata® since it made waves in the US in 2018, and we at Loughran Brewers Select were the first to bring it here to UK and Europe. We've watched Strata® work its way into brewers hearts and core range beers and specials ever since - both as a single hop beer, and alongside go-to hops like Citra® and Mosaic® where it amplifies the fruit flavours in these hops.
Strata® is now available in CGX® cryogenic lupulin pellets, and now also as a flowable hop liquid as Strata® Hyperboost®, co-developed with YCH. As well as the Strata® lineup, brewers are also enjoying working with the latest releases from Indie Hops, like Audacia®, Luminosa®, and Lórien®, as well as Oregon-grown takes on classic varieties like Cascade and Chinook. Explore the breweries who've chosen to use Indie Hops in their Hop City beers below, and relive Jim and Anca's 2025 visit and last year's beers here.
Northern Monk x Glasshouse x Garage Beer Co. x Messorem x Indie Hops
'Hop City 2026'
6.5% DDH IPA
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata®
Indie Hops Luminosa®
Indie Hops Strata® Hyperboost®
BarthHaas® Full Flavour Spectrum Citra® (HBC 394 c.v.)
Crosby Hops™ EL Dorado®
AB Vickers ISY Enhance™
Brian Dickson, Northern Monk:
"I'm a big Indie Hops fanboy. We’ve gone Strata® mostly on the hot side. So a super dank base, and then a little bit of brand new Strata® Hyperboost® going in day one of fermentation. And then cold side is going to be Luminosa® which is Definitely my favourite."
Shop Indie Hops Strata®
Indie Hops Strata® Hyperboost®
“From Strata® Hyperboost® I think it’d be really nice to get those passion fruit notes coming through, and getting a bit of the biotransformation going on there in theory as well. I think for the dankness for a little bit, but some of that passionfruit on the top there would be lovely.”
– Brian Dickson, Northern Monk
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Strata HyperBoost Indie Hops
Passionfruit, Melon, Strawberry, Grapefruit, Rock Concert Cannabis, Dried Chili PeppersBrewing Ingredients
Indie Hops Strata® is now available in an oil-boosted hop extract flowable. Use Strata® Hyperboost in whirlpool, knock-out, and dry-hopping - with best results in cold-side applications. Combine Indie Hops Strata® Hyberboost™ with Indie Hops Strata T90 Pellets to improve efficiency and increase survivable hop oils.
- Aroma: Passionfruit, Melon, Strawberry, Grapefruit, Rock Concert Cannabis, Dried Chili Peppers
- Origin: USA
- Supplier: Indie Hops
Dave Sharp, Glasshouse
“We’ve done a couple of single hop beers with Strata®. But we’re using it more and more in other styles too, I think originally it was more kind of IPA style because it’s a big punchy hop. But we’ve done a couple of lower ABV beers with it now, and it’s one of our favourites.”
Did you know Strata® pairs beautifully with Citra® too?
Northern Monk's core range has 3 beers all featuring Citra®, with each pairing Citra® with a different hop. One of those hops is Strata®.
In Brian’s words: “They’re all hazy IPAs and they all stand out. They’ve all got their own thing going on.” ‘Transient’ is a 7.0% hazy DDH NEIPA which utlises Citra and Strata® in tandem to bring zesty lime, passion fruit, and the evergreen, teeming dankness of forest pine.
"Fortunately Strata® is a hop that just plays so nicely with Citra® (HBC 394) & so nicely with Mosaic® (HBC 369) - & those hops are just in so many beers”
"This has a lot to do with the aromatics that Strata® promotes in a beer - and it will sometimes be Strata® aromatics - but Strata® actually tends to even kind of push up the aromas of the other hops it’s being blended with too”
- Jim Solberg, Indie HopsNorthern Monk on Luminosa®:
We can't get enough Indie Hops Luminosa® in for you Brian can we?
“Yeah I massively ripped through my 2024 allocation, didn’t I? Partly by doing multiple hop city beers last year where Luminosa® featured very heavily in two of them. And then also putting it in a supermarket beer. I a had about 220 kilos that lasted me about three weeks I think! Just demolished it. Absolutely Love it. There’s certain flavours which are really desirable in beers – things like peach – which where some hops maybe have it listed, but it’s very rare to actually have those flavours come through so purely. The level of peach character that we get from Luminosa® is like nothing I’ve encountered. The peach lemonade descriptor that it comes with is absolutely bang on. We’ve had a lot of fun with that in peach infused beers just enhancing that. But also it works really well in the styles of beers we make. Obviously mostly hazies, and it stands out a little bit from yet another mango passionfruit pineapple hop but also plays incredibly nice with them. It also holds up pretty well against other US varieties and the NZ varieties and just plays really nicely in the style. So yeah, I really, really enjoy it. I love it. Once it’s a bit more established, I’m sure we’ll find a regular home for it as well.”
– Brian Dickson, Northern Monk
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Luminosa Indie Hops
Peach-Mango Lemonade, Orange peel, Boysenberry, Papaya, GuavaBrewing Ingredients
‘Luminosa’ is Latin for ‘full of brightness’, and this hop lives up to the name with vibrant fresh fruit character - think peach-mango lemonade, candied orange peel, boysenberry, papaya and guava. With minimal resin or pine character, Luminosa® is a versatile variety that brings bright, zippy citrus notes to beer.
- Aroma: Peach-Mango Lemonade, Orange peel, Boysenberry, Papaya, Guava
- Origin: USA
- Supplier: Indie Hops
AB Vickers ISY Enhance
Brian from Northern Monk: "I am a big user of ISY Enhance. Obviously it was low alcohol it was designed for, & we put it in our alcohol free beers now. But another aspect to it that was flagged up to me was just that it should sort of round out a lot of the green polyphenol characters you pick up from dry hopping, & we have we have found the beers using it do sort of clean up a little bit faster & not go as extreme on that side as before. So that when we're doing those big DDH IPAs like this Hop City Festival Beer with the heavy dry hops, we usually add it as well."
“We’ve obviously thrown ISY Enhance in everything just to see! We used to use loads of maltodextrin in big stouts & most of the low ABV beers. But we’ve tied maltodextrin to increased hop creep & longer diacetyl rests on the lower ABV beers, because at the end of the day maltodextrin is meant to be completely unfermentable, but never is. I think also there’s some breakdown of sugar compounds during the dry hopping process – we were having 10-11 days VDK rests on beers like ‘Little Faith’, and this isn’t sustainable. So instead we’ve been using ISY Enhance as an alternative for that, where you can just look to fill out the body a little bit & round things out without all the manual handling that comes with maltodextrin, & with this stability risk we’ve seen as well [with maltodextrin]. It feels like an absolute no brainer… At the end of the day it’s just yeast, there’s just absolutely zero reason not to use it beyond cost, & it’s pretty affordable for what it is.
I definitely feel like ISY Enhance adds & helps to sort of round things out and clean things out quite nicely. So yeah, I’d throw that in everything along with Luminosa®!”
– Brian Dickson, Northern Monk
Left Handed Giant x Indie Hops
'Far From Earth'
Hazy IPA 6.5%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata®
Indie Hops Strata® CGX®
Indie Hops Strata® Hyperboost®
Indie Hops Audacia®
Indie Hops Chinook
BESTMALZ BEST Heidelberg
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Strata CGX Indie Hops
Passionfruit, Strawberry, Grapefruit, Rock Concert Cannabis, Dried Chili PeppersBrewing Ingredients
Strata®’s hypnotic aroma and flavours with a new twist thanks to the CGX™ cryogenic lupulin pellet.
- Aroma: Passionfruit, Strawberry, Grapefruit, Rock Concert Cannabis, Dried Chili Peppers
- Origin: USA
- Supplier: Indie Hops
Left Handed Giant x Indie Hops
For this collab, Left Handed Giant wanted to brew a hazy IPA with every iteration of Strata®: T90 Pellets, CGX® Cryogenic Lupulin Pellets, & Strata® Hyperboost® concentrated hop extract
We select the hop lots we import alongside the brewers we work with, as well as our hop suppliers.
The two Strata® T90 pellet lots Left Handed Giant used in 'Far From Earth' were two of Indie Hops founder Jim Solberg's favourites from the most recent hop harvest:
"All of the 2025 crop Strata® lots that Loughran Brewers Select selected are brewing fantastically over here with the brewers in the states who also selected them. We consider them "balanced" lots that carry the full range of citrus/tropical/berry fruitiness and the "rock concert cannabis" when used both late hot side whirlpool and in dry hopping"
- Jim Solberg, Indie Hops
Shop Indie Hops Strata®
"All of the 2025 crop Strata® lots that Loughran Brewers Select selected are brewing fantastically over here with the brewers in the states who also selected them. We consider them "balanced" lots that carry the full range of citrus/tropical/berry fruitiness and the "rock concert cannabis" when used both late hot side whirlpool and in dry hopping"
- Jim Solberg, Indie Hops Shop Indie Hops Strata®
Strata® Hyperboost®
“Strata® Hyperboost® added cold side (but with at least the tail end of fermentation still active) adds a nice twist of orange peel & mango skin as well”
– Jim Solberg, Indie Hops
Oregon Grown Chinook
“The Oregon grown Chinook lots we selected for Loughran Brewers Select to bring into the UK are well suited for hazies, and work great with Strata® – for this beer, Left Handed Giant were looking for Chinook which was both balanced and juicy, showcasing those beautiful unique Oregon Chinook characteristics – where it presents as a more rounded version of Chinook with more fruit characteristics – a little bit of pineapple and a little grapefruit citrus alongside the resin.”
– Jim Solberg, Indie Hops
"Audacia® adds currant, huckleberry, lychee flavours that work great with Strata®"
Shop Indie Hops Audacia®
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Audacia Indie Hops
Whortleberry, Lingonberry, Blackcurrant, Rose, Lilac & LavendarBrewing Ingredients
Audacia® is the newest release from the Indie Hops Flavor Project. Best described as a sassy noble hop, but comfortable in IPAs as well as lagers.
- Aroma: Whortleberry, Lingonberry, Blackcurrant, Rose, Lilac & Lavendar
- Origin: USA
- Supplier: Indie Hops
Baron
'No Comply'
DDH Pale 5.8%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata®
Indie Hops Luminosa®
Indie Hops Strata® Hyperboost®
Loughran Deluxe Flaked Oats
Track Brewing Co.
'Partway'
DIPA 8.0%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata® CGX®
Track Brewing Co.
'Abundance'
Gold Top DIPA 8.4%
featuring:
Indie Hops Luminosa®
Gravity Well
'Right Handed Neutrino'
NEIPA 6.2%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata®
Shop Indie Hops Strata®
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Strata Indie Hops
Passionfruit, Melon, Strawberry, Grapefruit, Rock Concert Cannabis, Dried Chili PeppersBrewing Ingredients
Passionfruit, melon, strawberry, grapefruit, rock concert cannabis and dried chili peppers.
- Aroma: Passionfruit, Melon, Strawberry, Grapefruit, Rock Concert Cannabis, Dried Chili Peppers
- Origin: USA
- Supplier: Indie Hops
Beak
'Squeeze'
DIPA 8.0%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata®
BESTMALZ BEST Heidelberg
BESTMALZ BEST Heidelberg Wheat
Wylam x Bobzilla
'State of Mind'
Pale Ale 4.4%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata®
Shop Indie Hops Strata®
Glasshouse x Nothing Bound
'Everything That Happens Is From Now On'
DIPA 8.0%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata® Hyperboost®
BESTMALZ BEST Heidelberg
BONUS BEERS
Thornbridge x Vault City
'Clear The Vault'
West Coast IPA 6.8%
featuring:
Indie Hops Strata®
DEYA
'Something Good 24'
IPA 6.5%
featuring:
Crosby Hops™ CH3 Experimental Variety
Crosby Hops™ Deep Cut™ Cascade
CH3 is a new experimental variety from Crosby Hops™
Did you know?
DEYA uses Indie Hops Lorien® in two core beers
DEYA ‘Rue De Soda’ Pale Ale 4% featuring:
Indie Hops Lórien®
Indie Hops Audacia®
Alongside Citra®
DEYA ‘Tappy Pils’ Lager 4.4% featuring:
Indie Hops Lórien®
Lórien: Lemon-lime Zest Lager hop
Lórien® offers an opportunity to evolve the flavour profile of modern lagers, delivering a clean, refreshing character with subtle fruit and citrus notes that can differentiate a brand while still maintaining drinkability. For brewers seeking to innovate without alienating traditional lager drinkers, Lórien® strikes a valuable balance between familiarity and freshness.
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Lorien Indie Hops
Mixed Citrus, Cinnamon Spice, CleanBrewing Ingredients
The third of Indie Hops own developed varieties. Low alpha and clean, with tangy fresh fruit and mixed citrus notes.
- Aroma: Mixed Citrus, Cinnamon Spice, Clean
- Origin: USA
- Supplier: Indie Hops
HOP CITY 2026
9 beers pouring featuring exclusive varieties from the Indie Hops Flavor Project – includes beers from Northern Monk, Glasshouse, Left Handed Giant, Baron, Wylam, Track & more with Audacia®, Luminosa®, & New Strata® Hyperboost® Hop Oil. Learn more and read the stories at the link below.