Press Release: Black Hops Adds East Coast Haze To Its Core Range Of Beers

Award-winning Gold Coast craft brewery Black Hops has launched the latest addition to its core beer range, a 4.5% hazy pale ale called East Coast Haze.
The eighth beer to become a staple of the Black Hops Core Series, East Coast Haze is described as: a cool coastal breeze under the golden sun, this refreshingly smooth, hazy pale ale is like one of those perfect Australian days.

Gaze into a sea of aqua blue as the waves greet you on a soft sandy beach and you may find yourself lost in the smoke. Freshly hopped mosaics, amarillos and solar eclipses excite your senses as the sun slowly dips into the ocean and the flavors of tropical fruits and citrus.

East Coast Haze is a smooth and long lasting beer in the core series of dark hops. A tribute to the idyllic home vibe of the Gold Coast chill, this beer originated as a limited release beer in 2020

and is known as East Coast Low (its name is based on the weather patterns prevalent along the Queensland coastline during the tropical months)
Avid followers of the Black Hops brand will notice the evolution of the design and color scheme of the East Coast Smoke can. introducing this new vision, Dan Norris, CEO and co-founder of Black Hops said; “This beer is inspired by the place we live and love.

To reflect that, we’ve refined the color and design of the cans so that we can build a brand outside of the traditional black logo and the rest of the core line of beers. We think it’s the right beer at the right time.”

To support its entry into the competitive craft beer market, Black Hops will spread the word about East Coast Smoke Love through previously untried marketing strategies such as billboards,

bus shelters and even a fully branded caravan, and a range of coastal-themed merchandise such as surfboards, skateboards and cooler bags.
In addition to being permanently available in three Black Hops restaurants, East Coast Haze is currently being rolled out in a range of licensed stores and venues across Australia.

2020 is a huge year for dark hops. For us, one beer adds up to G.O.A.T. 2020. It’s a great opportunity to start the year off with a list of range limited releases for the year. By far, it’s our best-selling beer in the core series. g.o.a.t. isn’t a new beer, but 2020 showed us just how strong this style is for us.

We think now is the time to lower the ABV hazy, and we absolutely love the East Coast low-bodied beers.
Related: Hazy Beers and How We Brew Them at Dark Hops

We thought the concept of a beer range that captures the vibe and ethnic spirit of its origin (our hometown on the Gold Coast),

coupled with a revamped look and feel, would help make it the right beer for the right time.

To be honest, we did end up with a bit of a “gut feeling”, but hey, sometimes you have to back yourself up – as they say, there’s no glory without courage.

What’s in a name?

The first decision we needed to make was whether range to keep the beer’s original name East Coast Low.
Dave and I went back and forth on this, and me, Eddie and Goff went back and forth. We had a fully printable version of East Coast Low ready to go and were close to launching with that name.

Personally, I don’t like the word “low” to describe this beer. I think it gets confused as a pale ale and I think the beer should celebrate good weather not bad weather. I also wanted to add the word “haze” to the beer, so Dave (after a decent fight) started working with me on a completely revamped beer can.

We also discussed whether to release this beer range with the normal Core Series look and feel, but I don’t think a normal looking beer can with a different color would really do it. We really want to make a splash when we launch. We put a lot into that and I think it needed a whole new look.

We went back and forth on that, and it will end up being Dave coming up with an epic design that I can take back to the other founders to make sure range everyone is excited about launching a brand new can into the core line. After a fairly long period of work,

Dave came up with another great East Coast Smoke Jar design. This is no small feat. Designers can easily cling to their ideas. He had a hard time range hearing that I liked the design, but he wanted to make a beer with a completely different design. Fortunately,

Dave is a very relaxed, flexible and talented person and after some back and forth, we had a great looking can.

When we saw what the can looked like, everyone was excited!

There are many aspects to the design of the can, but it’s also simple and elegant. Dave found a unique and creative way to capture the coastal vibe we were after (within the more limited parameters of printing directly onto the can),

and with its blue and silver design (representing the waves that surround the east coast of Australia), he had it completely range locked down.
As you turn the can in the sunlight, it captures the sunlight glinting off the sea as it flies over the ocean – try it next time you open the can in the sun to see the full effect! Maybe one day you’ll be able to crack the smoke off the East Coast on a flight from the Gold Coast, that’d be cool!

The Black Hops team is very active in sharing their story through blogs, podcasts and social media: the
Black Hops media page (logo, photos, bios, etc.)
Black Hops on social media @blackhopsbeer on range Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
View the Black Hops story here.
For media inquiries, please contact Black Hops co-founder Dan Norris
0434152966或电子邮件dan@blackhops.com.au.