Fresh Hop 2020

I would call ahead. Not too much left.

 

I disagree with this as there's zero confusion from NW Brewers standpoint of what Fresh Hop means and basically zero from the NW consumer standpoint. Fresh Hop season is something that is completely unique to the NW as it relates directly to the fact that most breweries are within 2-3 hours of where something like 95% of the country's hop production

This means when NW brewers use the term Fresh Hop, it references a specific harvesting and brewing concept which is very different from how Wet Hops have been historically used. With Fresh hops, you literally have a matter of hours before the hops start to use their unique character. Some Breweries have found ways to extend the life a bit (like Breakside's flash freezing process), but the fragility is part of what makes Fresh Hop season so amazing. With regards to Wet Hops, it just means the hops haven't been kilned which is why none of the mass market wet hop Beers from Sierra Nevada and others will never have the same Hop Character that you get from true Fresh Hop Beers.

Also the fragility of FH beers isn't limited to the production side as most really need to be consumed as close to the kegging/canning date as possible (beers that are basically dry hopped with FH instead being part of the boil start deteriorating in days).

All of this is why FH season is the best and celebrated by the NW Beer community to such a degree.

 

I know less about the brewing process than most of you all, but I’d just underscore the point @ppilot made that, because more fresh hop beers are produced in the Northwest than anywhere else in the country (world?), by virtue of our proximity to where the hops are grown, we get to decide what these beers are called. If other people don’t understand what is meant by this terminology, that is their failing, not ours.

In other words, don’t correct an Eskimo on the correct word for snow.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, I shouldn't have even pretended I was going to be able to resist this.

Easy drinking, clearly fresh hopped, delicious beer. Not at the top of my fresh hop list, but definitely above a bunch of others.

 

This little side discussion literally began when a nw beer consumer was confused by a nw brewers use of "fresh hops" on a beer label for a beer that was not brewed with hops harvested mere hours earlier

Wet hop refers to hops that haven't been dried, they are the same thing as what you are calling fresh hops. Sierra Nevada's wet hop.beers are brewed with hops that are less than 24 hours off the bine.

They call them wet hops because they have been referring to the very first dry hops they use each year.as "fresh.hops" for several decades.

Like I said earlier, I know what you guys mean and I love the beers no matter what we call them. I'm also never surprised when people express confusion about beers like celebration that use fresh hop to describe beers made with the first dried hops.of the season.

I think its a lot like the whole "adjunct" discussion, it was a term that meant one thing within industry jargon for a long time, then a new usage started coming into play, now there is some confusion, eventually it will probably settle out with the new usage becoming the "official" meaning

 

Honest question, why hasn't the use/terminology been standardized industry wide?

I ask, because this seems, to a degree, of 'because I said so' for an answer. I don't care what's chosen, but it would be nice as a consumer to know the difference (regardless of locale where the hops are grown or where ultimate said brew is crafted). My $0.02

 

I can’t answer that. Someone else in the NW forum might know—and I’ll page @jesskidden (our resident beer historian) for good measure.

 

We discussed this last year, and while you are correct that Celebration the beer pre-exists fresh hop beers in general (maybe not Bert Grant, but records are unclear), Sierra Nevada itself didn’t label Celebration a “fresh hop” beer until 2010. NW examples of FH beers using undried hops definitely existed before then.

 

In the same way that there is still confusion over if and what distinction exists between stout and porter, @afrokaze probably said it best with “marketers gonna market.” I’m not volunteering to be the Beer Style Definition Police, but I will speak up to advocate for the terminology I think works best in this case.

 

If you poke around on jess kiddens website you can find many different ads from decades ago referring to "fresh hops" and clearly not talking about undried hops.

Out of curiosity, what is the first fresh hop.beer any of the older members here remember seeing? For me it was almost certainly SN northern hemisphere harvest ale or maybe lagunitas had something tap only back in the day? Definitely circa 2008ish

 

Back to more more important things...Breakside's Fresh Hop IGA just released today on Draft ( no cans). It's bigger and then I expected at 8.1% but absolutely delicious. It also makes me sad as that marks the end of Fresh Hop season for Breakside.

 

I've been on BA for only 10 years, so I am probably not one of the older members—but I just looked through my reviews starting at the beginning and the first two "fresh hop" beers I tried were both from Deschutes: Fresh Hop Mirror Pond and Hop Trip Harvest Ale, both in September 2011.

 

I've been drinking fresh hop beers at my neighborhood bar, The Latona Pub, since I bought my house in 2007. I'm sure they were serving them prior to that.

Since 2020 is trying really hard to ruin things, Latona is continuing their yearly fresh hop celebration with crowlers you can order on their website.

It's a big deal out here. I'm not sure how to explain that to people unless they visit during this time of the year or better yet, move here. I know that in other parts of the country you'll find a handful of breweries that might make one with overnight'd hops from Yakima/Willamette or with locally grown hops, but 99% of all PNW breweries make at least one.

 

Did you just say “better yet, move here”?

 

Alpine's first WHAle was released in 2005.

 

I just looked up northern hemisphere harvest from SN and it was added to the database here in 2001

 

ha, i knew i wasnt crazy. the flavor when its just been tapped is so much more enjoyable than it is even a mere 72hrs later.

may have to hit Ex Novo again today for another round of FH Mass Ascension