On a warm afternoon in a paddock in north-east Victoria's Ovens Valley, the aroma is distinctively fruity.

"Passionfruit," says Gail Monshing, who, along with husband Allan, oversees the Rostervor Hops Garden at Eurobin, at the foot of Mt Buffalo.

"It sounds funny, but we are in a garden of Galaxy hops and it is a passionfruity flavour and aroma. You can smell it when you open the cones and rub the lupulin together.

"The Galaxy is quite amazing. A lot of hops you can smell them in the field and that smell won't transfer in the beer, but as soon as you taste a beer with Galaxy hops in it, you go 'that's Galaxy'. You know what hop you are actually tasting."

According to brewers and beer drinkers, flavoursome and fruity hops, like Galaxy, are 'sexy' right now.

The flowers, or cones, of the hop plant are increasingly being used to bring unique and vibrant flavours to beer produced in craft breweries, rather than their more traditional use as a bittering agent in beer.

Dave Bonighton, a founder and brewer at Melbourne brewery Mountain Goat, and chair of the Craft Beer Industry Association, says hops are critical for brewers wanting to create unique and stronger flavoured beers.

"There are styles of beer - India pale ale, pale ales, that are really sexy at the moment and they are all centred around hops," he said.

"If you are good at using your hops, if you've got good hops, good characterful hops, to begin with, you are well on your way to making a really distinctive craft beer."

Owen Johnston is the sales and marketing manager with Hop Products Australia, the country's largest hops producer, which grows hops at the Rostrevor Hops Garden, as well as Bushy Park in Tasmania.

He says the emerging craft beer industry is driving up demand for Australian-grown hops, and leading to a greater variety of hops being grown locally.

"In the past, brewers were looking for basic bittering properties out of hops. They weren't really looking for aroma and hop flavour in the same sense that they are now.

"Our farms were dedicated to growing quite a uniform crop and making sure brewers had consistency and a high-quality product looking to satisfy that bittering need in the mainstream lagers."

Now, his company grows about a dozen different types of hops that fall within resin, floral, fruity and herbaceous varieties and they are working on breeding new varieties all the time.

"That's made farming much more complex."

Rows of hops almost ready for harvest at the Rostrevor Hops Garden, in north-east Victoria. ( Cath McAloon )

But he says it's also made it more interesting.

As well as growth in varieties of hops, there's also been growth in demand.

"They (craft brewers) tend to use a lot more hop in their recipes in their beers to create more and more flavour," Mr Johnston said.

"We can see hop consumption rates up to three or four times that of the mainstream lager.

"In terms of driving an agricultural business, per litre of beer brewed, craft beer breweries are fantastic for a hop grower."

Australia's Craft Beer Industry Association was formed in 2012, in response to the burgeoning number of craft breweries popping up around the country.

The association defines a craft brewer as one producing less than 40 million litres of beer per annum.

Dave Bonighton says it's also about a certain mindset.

"It comes from the brewer. You can do it in a big brewery, or a small brewery.

"If there's a bit of art as well as the science, and a big focus on the ingredients and the characterfulness of the beer, then you are probably making a craft beer."

He says it's difficult to get exact numbers on the growth of Australia's craft beer industry.

"We think it's growing by at least about 15 per cent per year for the last three years or so."

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show beer consumption in the country has been dropping steadily and is now at its lowest point in more than 60 years.

"In a beer market that's actually in overall decline, to see a segment grow by that much over those few years is really encouraging for us," Mr Bonighton said.

Hops, malt and barley, along with water, are the key ingredients in brewing. ( Cath McAloon )

And judging by the booming craft beer industries overseas, in countries like the United States, Mr Bonighton is confident there's scope for greater expansion of craft brewing in Australia.

"Craft beer has captured about 7 per cent of the market (in the United States), whereas we are sort of around the two and a half, to 3 per cent.

"We think (in comparison to) a lot of the countries that we would compare ourselves to, we have quite a small craft beer segment, so there's quite a lot of opportunity."

For growers like Allan and Gail Monshing, the interest in hops from craft brewers is leading to a revival of their industry and the rural communities that support the farming and harvesting of the crop.

"We've been through periods where it has been very unexciting and very difficult times to sustain the industry," Gail said.

"Now we've got these new varieties that the world market wants, you can see a future - not just Allan's and my future - but for future generations in the hop industry."

In the Ovens Valley, which was once home to tobacco farms before the industry folded, it's providing a much needed boost.

"There's not a lot of agriculture that's been very successful at the moment in the Ovens Valley," Allan said.

"I think we are probably the only agriculture that's expanding and got different markets, so we can offer jobs to people ... local businesses we support as much as we can.

"It is a real plus for the valley."