Roadside Fresh Hop
Barley Brown's Brewpub

On tap all over town in Portland this weekend it seems. You have to give the brewer a lot of credit for his willingness to experiment and make a beer like this. Supposedly, this beer was made from fresh green wild hops (that the brewer found by the side of the road- get it?..:-). One thing is for sure, I have never smelled or tasted anything like this before.

RFH pours your standard light orange IPA color with very good head retention and lacing. On the nose I get some citrus, pepper, and dank earth, but there's also something of a weediness intermixeed with the sligtly skunky marijuana aroma that is intriguing. On the palate the beer is quite bitter and dry, but again, with that weedy component as well. The beer is not too heavy on the palate and has a fairly long finish. Alcohol doesn't seem to be too high in this beer; I'd guess somewhere in the 6% or 7% range, and drinkability is OK. It's a bit too weedy tasting for me to ever see myself drinking a lot of this.

Interesting beer. Not sure it's entirely to my taste, but it's not bad.

After some chitchatting with the Owner (Tyler I think)... he comes out from the back with a nice goblet of this brew... He says it is brewed with "wild" hops picked from alongside a nearby road... BADASS!!

With a little bit of research, I found the brewers call this an IPA... I personally would classify it as a pale ale.. but oh well.

Nice head and retention.. very clear lite amber.

Nose is grassy hops with hints of earth and very subtle but present caramel.

Flavor is VERY grassy.. smooth from front to back ... very very GREEN tasting.. actually reminds of the taste you get when nibbling on the pod of fresh peas... malt balances nicely... finish has a sorta minty element.

again nice body and carbonation... I will stick by that this should be in the pale ale category... thanks for the opportunity to try this one... very interesting for sure.