Beautiful photo thanks to sequoianorcal on Flickr
As I’ve previously mentioned, I love fresh hop beers and I plan to sample as much as I can. Fresh hop beers haven’t exactly started flooding the market, yet. But, they are starting to appear. Following is what I’ve heard, so far. Any brewers or drinkers reading, please comment if you have any additional information!
Two Beers Brewing: Their fresh hop beer was first to market in Seattle, and yet I still haven’t had a chance to try it. This week, I promise.
Naked City: They took their Ace in the Hole IPA brewed only with Sorachi Ace hops (dried hops), and then they added a bunch of wet hops to the conditioning tank. I believe they also brewed another fresh hop beer using wet hops all the way through recently.
Snipes Mountain Brewery: They had their fresh hop Harvest Ale pouring at the Beveridge Place Pub brewers night last week, and it was pretty fantastic. The “green” flavor of the hops wasn’t as full as it could be, but Chris said he had more back at the brewery soaking up even more wet hop flavor. I believe Naked City also poured 2 additional Snipes fresh hop beers last night for a brewers night. If you’re lucky, there may be some left.
Boundary Bay Brewery: They released their Fresh Hop ESB on September 14th at the brewery and it was also briefly available at the College Inn last Saturday (yep, I missed it). Hopefully we’ll see more of it around. They will also have a fresh hop firkin of their Harvest Ale for their Oktoberfest celebration on September 30th in their beer garden.
Fremont Brewing: Check out this video of Fremont brewing their first-ever fresh hop ale with Organic Cowiche Canyon Simcoe and Citra hops. It sounds like the beer could be available at the brewery later this week.
Schooner Exact Brewing: They brewed a fresh hop beer using Amarillos (yum), and it should be ready this week.
Big Al Brewing: This year’s fresh hop Harvest Ale is similar to last year’s, with some minor tweaks to the recipe and Centennial hops instead of Cascades. They’re kegging the beer tomorrow, and it will be flowing at the taproom tomorrow night!
Black Raven Brewing: Chris Miller of Snipes showed up one day at Black Raven with a bag full of fresh hops straight from Yakima, and Black Raven’s first fresh hop beer was born. It “might” be ready later next week, but not for sure. Plan on a couple of weeks to be safe.
Rock Bottom Bellevue – I don’t have any details on this one, but it sounds like it should be ready soon. Brian obviously knows his way around a bag of hops (Hop Bomb, anyone?), and I’ll look forward to trying it.
Elysian Brewing and New Belgium Brewing – The next installment of their collaborative series, Trip VI, is a fresh hop IPA made with wet hops from Roy and Gamache Farms. Should be available next week in Seattle.
If you’re planning a trip down to Portland anytime soon, check out this 2010 Fresh Hop Map on It’s Pub Night, one of the many Portland beer blogs you should be following.
Issaquah Brewhouse will tapping Wet Frog tonight at the pub, a wet hop beer brewed entirely with fresh Citra hops and fermented with our Belgian yeast. And a “wet” hopped firkin of it will be pouring at the Hopvine this Monday night!
I made two fresh hop ales on Friday. An American style Pale with Centennial hops and a British style Pale with Perle hops. They are both happily fermenting away and are smelling awesome. I can’t wait to have them both on tap in my garage 🙂
Elliott Bay Brewing in West Seattle’s Hop Harvest will be on tap in West Seattle either this weekend or early next week. Made with 17 pounds of fresh Amarillo hops.
Bellevue Rock Bottom tapped their Fresh Hop on 9/15, same night they tapped the Rocktoberfest. The freshly tapped pour made Hop Bomb taste tame but then went back on 9/22 – tasted again – lost it’s punch. Bellevue Blonde has been this year’s best Hop Bomb alternative from RB IMHO, and I’ll take the often overlooked Humpback Pale over Manny’s anyday – but not over Fremont Universale ;).