Sierra Nevada 2017 Snowpack

Discussion in 'Beer Releases' started by Lucular, Sep 18, 2017.

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  1. THANAT0PSIS

    THANAT0PSIS Pooh-Bah (2,201) Aug 3, 2010 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    Don't give anyone any ideas.
     
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  2. THANAT0PSIS

    THANAT0PSIS Pooh-Bah (2,201) Aug 3, 2010 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    I'd love that recipe, if you're willing to share. Everett is the best American porter around to me, and I'd love to not have to trade for it.
     
  3. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    “Fresh hops add incredible aroma and intensity to hop-forward beers. Every year, at the height of the hop harvest, our brewers make the trek to the Pacific Northwest for the finest cuts available. Hops are harvested at the peak of freshness and brought back to the brewery within two weeks of leaving the field.”

    You are indeed correct. Once again I have been ‘confused’ by the terminology that Sierra Nevada seems to feel they can use here. Every other brewery seems to use Fresh Hops for Wet Hops.

    Thank you for correcting me.

    Non-cheers to Sierra Nevada for their ‘marketing’ here.
     
  4. dripa8

    dripa8 Zealot (571) Sep 19, 2014 Kansas

    Oh my god! Now we are not only gonna argue over 2 week old ipas, now the hops have to be 2 days or less old. Pleeeeeese stop! Arrrgh!
    By the way @JackHorzempa , celebration is also "marketed" as a fresh hop IPA. Does this mean you are now down on that one too!
     
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  5. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Well, yeah - in the specific case of "wet hops" ( traditionally, aka "raw" or "green" hops - and now, confusingly, "fresh hops"), if they are older than that they are "degraded" or "rotten hops" and, eventually, "compost". It's why hops had always been dried as soon after picking as possible on a daily basis.
     
  6. dripa8

    dripa8 Zealot (571) Sep 19, 2014 Kansas

    When does a hop become in @jesskidden words "degraded,rotten, or compost"? I'm truly asking because I don't know. But I've read on here people selling off their year old excess hops. Seems to me if Sierra Nevada can start using them within 2 weeks as @JackHorzempa stated in his post, then that is pretty darn fresh. It may not be "wet" as in born yesterday's case, but it still seems worthy to be called "fresh" to me. Imho
     
  7. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    JackHozempa and I were referring to "wet/fresh hops" in our posts - and that seems to be what you were objecting to with "... now the hops have to be 2 days or less old. Pleeeeeese stop! Arrrgh!" Those freshly picked green hops, undried (or otherwise unpreserved), rot in a matter of a couple of days.

    Think of a flower, picked off the stem (so, not in a vase of water) or a leaf of romaine lettuce left out in the air and room temp. What do they look like 24 hours later?

    Those hops are preserved by drying (in some cases, further processed into pellets - depending on who these "people" are). Drying is the traditional way hops were treated immediately after harvesting.

    Sierra Nevada considered dried whole flower hops "fresh" if they're only a few weeks old.
     
    #67 jesskidden, Sep 21, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2017
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  8. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    Is Sierra Nevada unique in that? They've been doing it for at least as long as they've been releasing Celebration.

    It seems there are at least some Hop Growers that seem to make a distinction between "wet" and "fresh."

    "There is an important distinction between “fresh” and “wet” hops, says Jaki Brophy of the Washington Hop Commission and Hop Growers of America. “Wet hops are just that—wet, unkilned hops. They are picked and then go straight to a brewery and must be brewed 24 – 48 hours max after they are picked,” she says. Fresh hops, on the other hand, have been freshly picked and kiln dried."

    https://www.beeradvocate.com/articles/14547/as-fresh-hop-beers-multiply-so-does-experimentation/
     
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  9. dripa8

    dripa8 Zealot (571) Sep 19, 2014 Kansas

    "Wet" is what I consider the green, right after picked hops, and Sierra Nevada that I see is not calling their products "wet". Instead, they are saying "fresh, which means a couple weeks old dried hops. Which to me, is fine. And to the many fans of Celebration has been fine for years.
     
    #69 dripa8, Sep 21, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2017
  10. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Yeah, me, too. But Grossman & Co., you and I are in the minority these days, apparently.

    Well....(and it comes up every hop harvest season :rolling_eyes:) Sierra Nevada seems to be the last or only or most notable brewer to still use the traditional definition of "fresh hops". They seem to fighting a losing battle, with most other "craft" brewers these days in the "fresh hops = wet/undried/green/raw hops" camp.

    But it was not always so - FRESH HOPS

    Yeah, they've been "doing it" but only labeling it as such recently. Oh, since 2010 (according to this AAB article).
     
    #70 jesskidden, Sep 21, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2017
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  11. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    2010 eh? Helpful information.

    But if the Hop Growers still seem to be drawing a distintion between "fresh" and "wet" was that introduced as recently as Sierra Nevada starting to use the distinction?
     
  12. dripa8

    dripa8 Zealot (571) Sep 19, 2014 Kansas

    If you read the article @drtth cites, it seems at least Deschutes and the hop grower president seem to agree with Sierra Nevada about the distinction between "wet" and "fresh". No disrespect, but those sources convince me.
     
  13. dripa8

    dripa8 Zealot (571) Sep 19, 2014 Kansas

    Sierra Nevada also faces the problem of having a "wet hop" beer, their Harvest Ale, and a few "fresh hop" beers, so that probably plays into their problem of how to name and market them. I don't think, as @JackHorzempa does, they should be non-cheersed for that. If anything, there should be a standard enacted. Who would do that, I have no idea?
     
  14. dripa8

    dripa8 Zealot (571) Sep 19, 2014 Kansas

  15. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,030) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Can you tell us what made it disappointing? I was pleasantly surprised by how good that beer was to-style. So many breweries attempt a Kölsch and just end up with another blonde ale, but Boulevard hit it for me.
     
  16. ecpho

    ecpho Savant (1,159) Mar 28, 2011 New York

    sending a PM, to be polite
    edit: I tried but wasn't allowed to start a conversation.
     
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  17. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Well, until he gets here, try here or here (topic's been discussed numerous times - every times there's a hop harvest, I guess :wink:).

    Or see SN's Celebration Ale webpage, with this company explanation:

    Wet Hop versus Fresh Hop
    Over recent years, there has been some confusion about the difference between fresh and wet hops. While it may seem like semantics, to us it’s an important distinction.

    Wet Hops are un-dried hops, picked and shipped from the growing fields within 24 hours.

    Fresh Hops are the freshest dried hops to come from the fields, typically within seven days of harvest.

    Over 90% of the world’s hop harvest happens between August 31 and October 31, and these hops are used throughout the calendar year. Can hops possibly be the same on November 1, one day after harvest, as they are on July 25, nearly one year after growing in the fields? The answer is no. We think of hops like dry kitchen spices—the flavor of thyme or rosemary right after the jar is opened is far more intense than it is six months later. The same can be said for hops. There are ways to control the way hops age and to reformulate and readjust as some of the aromas fade, but there’s nothing like the magic of the first bales of hops as fresh as can be. That is the stuff dreams are made of!
     
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  18. dripa8

    dripa8 Zealot (571) Sep 19, 2014 Kansas

    Well @jesskidden , thanks for that, but that's what I've been saying all morning, and it seemed you were disagreeing. As was @JackHorzempa , who even though he's been onsite, has yet to come here and explain. I'm just saying don't run down sierra Nevada for what they are calling these beers, especially when they have examples of both. I think wet and fresh are good differentiators. So does the hop grower president, and at the very least deschutes brewing. Case closed, unless jack wants to chime in, now back to this threads real purpose, snowpack 2017. I will buy at least one.
     
  19. devilmakesthree

    devilmakesthree Initiate (0) Nov 27, 2013 Oregon

    This sounds like a great variety pack. It covers a lot of bases:
    -Hoppy (SNPA)
    -Roasty (Coffee Stout)
    -Malty/Sweet (Wintertide Ale)
    -Trendy (Holiday Haze)
    I can't wait to see it. I'll be stocking up for sure.
     
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  20. NOAA_ALL_HAZARDS

    NOAA_ALL_HAZARDS Initiate (0) Jul 13, 2017 Illinois

    I'm sure it will be coming out around the same time the celebration IPA does around mid October. I'll be stocking up on them plus the Samuel Adams Winter Classics pack. Excited for the season! Cheers!
     
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