Aristaeus Craft Brewing Co., an award-winning nano-brewery in Bucks County, PA, is thrilled to announce a collaboration with seven different hop farms in Brazil that has resulted in Primeiro Sol, a new Brazilian Ale that will be available on November 11, 2023. Aristaeus is the first brewery outside of Brazil to produce this style of beer with Brazilian-grown hops.

Seven farms in southern Brazil contributed hops from their 2023 harvest for this first-in-the-world collaboration. A special blend of Brazilian-grown Comet, Southern Cross, Sorachi Ace, and Kaleidoscope hops were all added to the brew, throughout the boil and as a dry hop additions.

Kaleidoscope is a brand-new hop variety created by the Hops Brasil breeding program in São Paulo, Brazil, and, while it has been tested on small pilot and test brews at local breweries, it has not been commercially released. Kaleidoscope was provided to Aristaeus Craft Brewing Co. exclusively for Primeiro Sol, the first beer outside of Brazil to be brewed with this brand-new hop varietal. Kaleidoscope delivers a crisp, light, clean bitterness and imparts herbal and floral aromas and flavors. 

“Hops growing in Brazil is very new but hops cultivation here is growing exponentially. Hops Brasil is considered a pioneer in this new industry, as the first to legally import hop plants in 2017 and create the first true hops breeding program in the country,” said Max Raffaele, Hops Brasil head breeder. “After 6 years of trials, the first new varieties have passed multiple testing phases and soon will be planted on a commercial scale.”

“My focus as a brewer is to create a wide variety of true-to-style beers, and I jumped at the chance to add a Brazilian Ale to my portfolio,” commented Harry Arnold, Aristaeus Craft Brewing Co. owner and brewer. “Brazilian Ale is a little-known style that is crisp, dry, and fruity with low hop bitterness. I was excited to learn about the style and collaborate with Brazilian brewers and farmers as I developed my own unique recipe. This beer also represents a lot of firsts: first Brazilian Ale commercially produced outside of the country, first beer outside of Brazil produced with Brazilian-grown hops, and the first to be produced on this scale with a brand-new variety of hops. When I started thinking about the name for this beer, I knew it had to represent the magnitude of the experience. The literal translation of Primeiro Sol is ‘first sun.’ I hope that this first-of-its-kind beer will shine a light on this emerging style, and the terroir and potential of Brazilian-grown hops.”