Shipping to 30+ countries

Shipping

Hoptimaal offers a wide variety of beers both in-store and online. If you can place an order, we usually have the product in stock (though mistakes can happen, unfortunately). Products that are in stock will be shipped the same day if ordered before 3:00 PM.

If we make an error with stock levels, you will be notified within 24 hours. In that email, we will offer you an alternative product, the right to a full refund, and a new delivery time. It's up to you how you'd like us to resolve the issue.

We ship all orders with DPD from the Netherlands. You can choose between:

  • Home delivery or delivery to your work
  • Delivery to a DPD pickup point near you

Shipping costs and the free-shipping threshold for your country are in the table below.

Deposit

On cans and bottles we charge the Dutch deposit (statiegeld): €0.15 per can and €0.10 per bottle (a little more for some bottles). It shows as a separate line in your cart. The deposit belongs to the Dutch deposit system: you can return the packaging in the Netherlands, not in deposit machines in other countries.

Shipping Costs by Country

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CountryShipping costReduced rateFree shipping from
Netherlandspickup point €6.95
home €8.50		–€75
Belgium€8.95–€100
Germany€13.50–€100
Denmark€15.95–€150
Austria€15.95–€150
Bulgaria€47.50€25 from €150not available
Estonia€17.50–€150
Finlandpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
France€16.95–€150
Greece€29.50€15 from €150not available
Hungary€21.95€10 from €150€200
Ireland€15.95–€150
Italy€16.95–€150
Croatia€47.50€25 from €150not available
Latvia€17.50–€150
Lithuania€21.95€10 from €150€200
Luxembourg€12.95–€150
Poland€15.95–€150
Portugal€19.95€10 from €150€200
Romania€27.50€10 from €150not available
Spain€18.75–€150
Czech Republic€15.95–€150
Swedenpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
Norway*Coming soon
United Kingdom*Coming soon
Switzerland*Coming soon

Delivery

DPD generally delivers within 24 hours after receiving the parcel. So if we have received your order before 15:00 on working days, in 99% of cases you will have your order at home the next day. It may sometimes happen that they need one day longer. You can follow this via the Track & Trace details you receive from us, so you can see exactly where your order is. DPD also gives you a time window of 2 to 4 hours in which your order will be delivered. Not at home? No problem! You can indicate yourself whether you want them to come by again tomorrow or whether they should deliver it to the nearest post office.

Do you have a question about the delivery of your beer? Feel free to contact us: customer service.

Returns

You have a cooling-off period of 14 days after you have received the product. Within this period you can register the product for return. The email you received stating that your order is on its way contains a link that you can use to easily and free of charge download and print a return label. Returning is free: we provide the return label and the shipping costs of your return are at our expense. After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back. If you bought multiple items at once, the period starts after receipt of your last item.

How do I return or exchange a product?

  • Fill in the return form within 14 days after receipt. If you are unable to print the return form, please write at least the order number and your name on a piece of paper and include it with your return.
  • Register your return with our customer service. You can do this by sending an email to: info@hoptimaal.nl or by calling 085 -130 1591. Or print your return label yourself via the link in the email titled "Your order is on its way".
  • After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back.
  • Then send your return back in its original condition and with the packaging. Products that are damaged or incomplete are not eligible for exchange or refund.

Please note: after the 14-day cooling-off period it is no longer possible to return your product.

What can you expect after returning your product?

After receiving your return, you will receive a confirmation from us. This can take 3 working days, but in general we process your return on the day we receive it. We will check your return to see whether your product meets our return conditions and will then get to work on the solution you want.

Do you want your money back?

  • We will refund the purchase amount within 3 working days after confirmation of receipt to the account with which you paid. If you want to receive the purchase amount in another way, please contact us about the possibilities.
  • In case of visible signs of use, missing accessories or missing packaging, you are no longer entitled to a refund. If the packaging is not returned entirely in its original condition, we won't make a fuss and you will in any case get 75% of the purchase amount back. This is very rarely the case; usually the full purchase amount is simply refunded.

Do you want to receive a new product?

After receiving your return, we will send the new product right away. If the product is no longer in stock, we will refund the purchase amount to the account with which you paid.

  • Is the new product cheaper? The remaining amount will be refunded to your account within 3 working days.
  • Is the new product more expensive? You will receive a payment request for the remaining amount. After receipt of payment, we will send the product immediately.
  • Do you want to receive the new product at a different address or on a different day? Please contact us.

Exceptions

Beer that has been opened will not be taken back. We also do not take back beer that you ordered at a discount because the shelf life is almost expired. Of course we state this clearly on the product page, so that you are not surprised by a limited best-before date.

The item may be returned to the address below:

Hoptimaal
Leeghwater 5
3825MR Amersfoort
Netherlands

Order before 3:00 PM on weekdays, shipped today.
Break-proof packaging

Your beers are always carefully packaged. If there is any damage during transit, we offer a guarantee. Not satisfied, money back.

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Beer School › Hops · Hop variety

Riwaka

Riwaka is a New Zealand aroma hop from 1997, with Saaz as one of its ancestors. According to the breeder, it has a powerful aroma of citrus and grapefruit, with pine and passion fruit.

  • CountryNew Zealand
  • BreederPlant & Food Research (merged into the Bioeconomy Science Institute on 1 July 2025), together with NZ Hops
  • Introduced1997
  • Parentage'Old Line' Saazer × New Zealand breeding selections (according to NZ Hops)
  • Typearoma (according to NZ Hops)
  • Alpha acids4.5–6.5% (according to NZ Hops; varies by harvest)

What is it?

Riwaka™ comes from the same New Zealand breeding programme as Motueka: 'Hops with a Difference'. According to NZ Hops, it was bred by crossing 'Old Line' Saazer (Saaz) with specially developed New Zealand breeding selections. The breeding number is 85.6-23. According to NZ Hops, the hop research centre of Plant & Food Research released it in 1997; that institute merged into the Bioeconomy Science Institute on 1 July 2025. According to the NZ Hops harvest report, there is a hop research centre in the small town of Riwaka.

Riwaka is triploid: it has three sets of chromosomes instead of two and therefore sets little seed. Researchers at Plant & Food Research established that by measurement. With 4.5–6.5% alpha acids it has little bittering power; the breeder calls it an aroma hop.

Aroma and flavour

NZ Hops is emphatic: anyone who wants 'New Zealand hops' to be tasted in their beer chooses Riwaka. The breeder describes a powerful aroma of citrus and grapefruit, with pine and passion fruit. According to NZ Hops, Riwaka has more oil than average: almost double that of its Saazer parent. The variety sheet gives 0.9–1.5 ml of oil per 100 grams, with 55–65% myrcene.

That Riwaka also differs chemically from other New Zealand hops is shown by research. A study by the University of Otago and Plant & Food Research compared nine New Zealand varieties from the 2017 harvest. Riwaka had the most compounds that set it apart from the rest, mainly compounds from the terpene family, such as geranyl 2-methylbutanoate, perillene and limonene. In a second study, with 21 varieties from one harvest in New Zealand, Riwaka was among the three that produced the most linalool, a compound with a floral aroma. Which compound gives the passion fruit does not emerge from those studies.

Use and similar hops

According to the breeder, Riwaka suits pale ale and New Zealand pilsner, and robust styles such as IPA and strong 'imperial' pilsner. The BJCP names Riwaka, alongside Motueka and Nelson Sauvin, as an example of New Zealand hops for the New Zealand pilsner.

Besides ordinary hops, according to NZ Hops, Riwaka is also available as Cryo Hops®: pellets of concentrated lupulin, offered in cooperation with Yakima Chief Hops.

Related hops: Motueka comes from the same programme and also has Saaz in its family tree, but according to the breeder smells more of lime. The breeder does not name a substitute with the same aroma.

Myth or fact?

Partly true

‘Motueka and Riwaka are really just Saaz growing in New Zealand.’

Saaz is one of the parents, and Motueka was even first called B-Saaz. But both are crosses and therefore varieties in their own right, with a very different aroma: lime, grapefruit and passion fruit instead of subtly floral and spicy.

Partly true

‘Motueka and Riwaka are really just Saaz growing in New Zealand.’

What is right: according to NZ Hops, Motueka and Riwaka both come from the New Zealand breeding programme 'Hops with a Difference', and both have Saaz in their family tree. Motueka is a cross of a New Zealand breeding selection with Saazer; Riwaka a cross of 'Old Line' Saazer with New Zealand breeding selections. Motueka even came on the market in 1996 as B-Saaz and only got its current name in 2007.

What is not right: a cross is not a copy. It is a new variety with two parents, and Saaz is only one of them. Motueka and Riwaka are also triploid: they have three sets of chromosomes, whereas hops naturally have two sets, and they therefore set little seed. Researchers at Plant & Food Research established that by measurement.

In your glass too, the difference is big. According to the BJCP, traditional Czech and German hops often have a subtle character: lightly floral, spicy or like garden herbs. NZ Hops describes Motueka as lime, 'as in a mojito', and Riwaka as grapefruit and passion fruit, with, according to the breeder, almost twice as much oil as its Saazer parent. In a comparison of nine New Zealand varieties, Riwaka also had the most volatile compounds that set it apart from the other varieties.

In short: family of Saaz, but not Saaz. Anyone looking for the character of Saaz should choose Saaz.

Sources

A bit of history

Riwaka came on the market in 1997, a year after Motueka. Both date from a time when New Zealand had already been growing triploid, almost seedless hops for decades: according to NZ Hops, the country was the first to do so commercially in 1972. According to the 2026 harvest report, the older varieties Motueka, Nelson Sauvin and Riwaka showed a wider spread in aroma that year than newer varieties such as Nectaron: from softer and fruitier to very pronounced. Brewers therefore had to choose more carefully.

How to taste it

A good starting point: a pale ale or New Zealand pilsner with Riwaka as the main hop. Smell for grapefruit and passion fruit, with a touch of pine. Try putting it next to a beer with Motueka: two varieties with Saaz in the family tree, but according to the breeder Motueka goes more towards lime. Hop aroma fades: drink such a beer fresh.

Where it takes centre stage

Pale AlePale ale is a hoppy, easy-drinking beer of medium strength, with just enough malt... PilsnerPilsner is a pale, bottom-fermented lager with a clear hop bitterness. A Czech pilsner... IPAIPA is a beer in which the hops play the lead: usually fairly bitter...

Similar to: Motueka, Nelson Sauvin

More hop varieties

AmarilloCascadeCentennialChinookCitraColumbus (CTZ)East Kent GoldingsEl DoradoFuggleGalaxyHallertau BlancHallertauer MittelfrühIdaho 7MosaicMotuekaNectaronNelson SauvinSaazSabroSimcoeStrataTettnangerVic Secret

Terms

Hops
The cone-shaped flowers of the female hop plant (Humulus lupulus), which give beer bitterness, aroma and flavour and inhibit bacteria.
Hop oil
The volatile, fragrant oil from hops (according to John Palmer 0.5–3% of dried hops; some modern varieties are higher, Galaxy according to HPA 2.6–3.3 ml per 100 grams), with compounds such as myrcene, linalool and geraniol; it largely evaporates during the boil, which is why brewers add aroma hops late or dry hop them.
Alpha acids
The main bitter compounds from hops (humulones); they dissolve poorly and are hardly bitter, but during the boil they turn into iso-alpha acids, which do taste bitter.
Lupulin
The small yellow grains (glands) at the base of the small leaves of the hop cone; they contain the resins with the bitter compounds and the hop oil that gives the aroma.
Triploid hop
Hops with three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two, usually bred by crossing a tetraploid mother plant (four sets) with an ordinary male plant. Triploid plants set little seed; according to NZ Hops, New Zealand has been growing such almost seedless varieties commercially since 1972.
Breeding programme
The long-term work in which a breeder crosses hop plants, tests the seedlings for years in the field and in beer, and releases only the best as a new variety. Nectaron, for example, was crossed in 2004 and only came on the market in 2020.
Cryo hop
Pellets of concentrated lupulin: the resins and aroma oil of the hop, without the plant material of the cone. Intended to give a lot of hop flavour and aroma without astringent flavours or extra plant material in the beer. NZ Hops offers Cryo Hops® of its varieties in cooperation with Yakima Chief Hops.
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