Fresh Hop Project 2015

Putting the 2015 Fresh Hop Season to Bed
Thanksgiving seemed like a good day to wrap it for 2015. I set out to document as many of North America's Fresh Hop beers as I could, and wound up with info for 438 beers from 351 breweries and cideries from 27 states and territories. Those beers used hops from about 80 different sources, from the biggest hop farms to a neighbor's back yard and wild plants of unknown varietal. I had leads on almost another 100 producers, and I got zero info on fresh hop beers from Eastern Canada or Mexico, so there's room to grow again next year.

Notes
Limitations: 1) Obviously, I was limited by which breweries responded with info and which didn't, so any trends could be skewed by those who didn't respond. I could have done more to chase the non-responders, but I followed up with every lack of response at least once, and generally contacted through social media/marketing/PR avenues, so I think if they wanted to offer the info, they had the opportunity to do so. 2) I tried to be accurate and stick to info confirmed by the breweries, but this was a recreational project done occasionally under the influence, so some errors are bound to be lurking in there. 3) I did not have the resources to account for volume, so Sierra Nevada's or Deschutes' FH beers are counted the same as a beer from Holy Mountain or Old Town as far as these stats are concerned. This is especially relevant when looking at most frequent hop varieties and sources.

Of the beers I tracked, 73.3% used dried hops (72.2% last year), 12.1% were confirmed canned or bottled (14.8% last year). Despite almost doubling the sample size, most of the stats were pretty close and no anomalies have been unearthed yet. Two Beers again took the title of first fresh hop beer released on 8/19/15, and I have a Colorado brewery releasing a FH Saison on 11/7/15 as my latest of the year.

The general stats, hop frequency, and farm/broker frequency are now up on the public sheet for 2015. I had every bit as much fun doing it again this year, and hope to continue it for the foreseeable future. Please feel free to ask for any stats I didn't show, and I'll see what I can do. See y'all again next year!