Fresh Hop 2020

I finally got a chance at some FH beers. There have been almost none on Vashon, but I got to the Beer Junction today, and picked up FH Wanderlust, FH Crikey, F2F Sabro, as well as a Seapine Mosaic Pale, which isn't FH but was only a couple of weeks old, and appealed to me.

By the way, I'm a little puzzled about FH Wanderlust, in terms of its listing here on BA. There's one listing (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22843/507041/) for "Fresh Hop 2020", which is what's on the label. I can only call it "Wanderlust" because that's the fine print on the bottom of the can (alone with "Cascade"). There's just one review and two other ratings, all from the last few days.

There is also a listing for "Wanderlust - Fresh Hop" https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22843/194447/. It was first listed in 2015, and the most recent review was in 2019. So which is the better listing for the 2020 beer? The old one, or the newer one?

 

Well now I’m confused. A few weeks ago I picked up this bomber thinking it was regular Wanderlust. But now I see on the right side of the label that it says “five fresh Northwest hops”—so was that Fresh Hop Wanderlust? I had gotten mixed up between Wanderlust and Wanderjack (I mean c’mon Breakside) and I did not review this beer because I believed they’d just changed the label on regular Wanderlust in the several years since I last had it. So if this was indeed Fresh Hop Wanderlust then (1) I’m a little bummed that I didn’t review it and (2) I’ve had one more FH beer than I’d thought. Hopefully someone can clear this up.

 

@afrokaze please correct me if I’m wrong but Breakside’s packaged fresh hop beers this year were only in cans.

It’s a year round beer. The average non-BA still has only a passing awareness of FH beers, and there’s a good chance they’ll think of it as “five newer Northwest hops” or “five cool Northwest hops” before they think of what we’re thinking of, all the more so the other 11 months of the year. You’re too clever for your own good

 

This corroborates what I found on the Breakside site under the Wanderlust listing. Still ... referring to them as “fresh Northwest hops” is a practice I find, er, questionable ...

 

I was on the sidewalk waiting for a seat in the UBG when the neon came on. I should have been checking this thread, and I could have bought you a birthday beer! Consider the one I drank to be (retroactively) in your honor. Much cheaper for me that way, haha. Glad you got the Cowiche ... it's amazing as always.

 

Agreed, the alliteration isn’t worth the confusion, make labels friendly to casual drinkers and beer nerds alike.

 

So I missed getting into Reuben's and cans of FH Crikey were sold out so I just got two crowlers to go.

Also got a 4 pack of Stoup FH Simcoe.

Will probably get some FH FtF tomorrow on the way out.

TeKu Tavern was closed but I got a small Margherita pizza from Tutta Bella.

Yeah two pizzas today. It's my birthday.

And got a big bag of ice from the hotel staff to keep it all cold until I get home in time for the hockey game tomorrow.

And going to Costco tomorrow for Kraken gear. Almost feel like I should go to the one in Kirkland.

 

Bought a can of Black Raven Fresh Hop and didn't discover until I opened it and went to their website to find out what I was drinking that it was made with dried hops. What's worse is that it was slick and watery and didn't smell or taste like much of anything. After some deliberation I went ahead and finished it, but it's a good thing I only bought one.

Fortunately, the FH Wanderlust I'm drinking now is really hitting the spot.

 

OK before I was just confused, but now I’m starting to get pissed off. The phrase “fresh hop(s)” is sacred. It should be used to mean only one thing. This would be like McDonald’s advertising their beef as organic free range wagyu cattle.

Then again, I suppose we are living in a world where nothing means anything.

 

Hellbent Brewing propaganda: They have four different fresh hop beers ready to go in cans now, and I can report that their FH Strata is great, with strong, unripe melon notes.

 

Sorry if this confused you! As @draheim mentioned, all of our fresh hop stuff was packaged in cans this year. I think the stuff on the regular Wanderlust label has read like that for years. Marketing gonna market I guess, that probably wouldn't my choice for that ad copy... Wanderjack was named as such because it was our collab with Barley Browns and was a sort of combination of Wanderlust and Pallet Jack, and was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek. The labels are quite different though, Wanderjack only got put into cans, and was only a summer seasonal. You're not wrong though, I can see how some of this could be confusing.

 

The one in SoDo is the original store. And then you can hit up Georgetown Brewing and get a growler of something. I think they're in between fresh hops at the moment, but still worth going. And Machine House (which has Simcoe FH Bitter) and Lower Case and Full Throttle Bottles are down there. Best Of Hands is in West Seattle on your way out of town, and they're releasing Cone Wars Strata today. Holy Mountain has crowlers of a Comet/Cascade FH DIPA available to go on their website, too. Just sayin'.

I'm not getting near the 75 fresh hops I had last year, so someone should. Have fun.

 

Yeah, to me there’s creative marketing—e.g., the various “unicorn tears” beers we’ve seen—and borderline deceptive labeling. I’d be surprised if I was the first person to question this word choice on Wanderlust bottles. Or maybe I just need to take it down a notch.

 

You need to take it down a notch. That phrasing on the bottle has never made me think it was a fresh hop. Plenty of other factors to consider with fresh hop releases.

Unless you’re Sierra Nevada, and they can go fuck themselves. Freshly kilned hops my ass.

 

Honestly when I bought and drank that bottle I did not see that language and didn’t think it was a fresh hop beer. But hopefully people can see why it might be viewed as misleading and needlessly confusing.

 

And I should add (15-minute edit window timed out) I don’t think this was done to deliberately deceive or confuse customers.

 

I wouldn’t necessarily tell Beaux to go fuck himself, I’m just... disappointed. And now he’s going to have to live with that, forever.

 

No, but it’s sloppy, and Breakside is better than that.

 

They've doubled down on that PR speak for so long that I have no qualms saying it. Their logic makes no sense and is just cyclical marketing meant to muddy the waters. And really, they don't care what I think.

Like Sierra Nevada. Hah.

 

This typically joyous thread has turned rather dark...