Fresh Hop 2024

What is Fremont FHFOD? I checked their BA profile page and current taplist and saw nothing matching those initials. Best I can come up with is Fresh Hop Field of Dreams, which would be an awesome beer name but also would likely involve instant legal action.

 

My guess is he intended Fresh Head Full of Dynamite, but I believe the actual name is Head Full of Fresh Hop.

 

That would make sense. Head Full of Dynomite (HFOD) (note the deliberate misspelling) is a non-fresh hop NEIPA that has been released in dozens of variations—one of which is apparently still listed by some beer-reviewing entity as the best IPA ever produced in the history of the universe (I’ll find the link if anyone is interested).

Head Full of Fresh Hops (HFOFH) is the fresh hop version of HFOD. So maybe @rrock44 just combined these abbreviations (not acronyms, mind you) as FHFOD.

FTFY

 

Yup. Bad typing. The Fresh Hop version of Head Full of Dynamite. And @sharpski is correct. I butchered the name, as well. Apologies.

 

I’d still drink Fresh Hop Field of Dreams in a heartbeat. I already have the slogan:
If you brew it they will come.

 

Probably the biggest beer competition news of the week , the Best of Craft Beer Awards Fresh Hop Late Harvest results have been announced:

https://bestofcraftbeerawards.com/medalists/


1 - Fresh Hop Pale or Hazy Pale
Gold- DOUG SAID SO FRESH HOP- TALUS
Sunriver Brewing Company, Sunriver, OR, USA

Silver- FRESHIE
Berryessa Brewing Co, Winters, CA, USA

Bronze- COWICHE CANYON
Fremont Brewing, Seattle, WA, USA

2 - Fresh Hop IPA
Gold- KRUSH ARCHITECT
Fort George Brewery, Astoria, OR, USA
Collaboration with Ghost Town Brewing

Silver- THE FRESHMAKER
Vice Beer, Vancouver, WA, USA

Bronze- FRESH HOP STEMMA IPA
Stemma Brewing, Bellingham, WA, USA

3 - Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
Gold- HARVEST BRAIN
Varietal Beer Company, Sunnyside, WA, USA
Collaboration with E9 Brewing Co.

Silver- GREEN FLAG
Bevel Craft Brewing, Bend, OR, USA

Bronze- NEW BOOT GOOFIN’
Schussboom Brewing, Reno, NV, USA

4 - Fresh Hop Lagers
Gold- LUNCH BREAK STUFF
Vice Beer, Vancouver, WA, USA
Collaboration with Fast Fashion

Silver- CELEBRANT
Burke-Gilman Brewing Company, Seattle, WA, USA

Bronze- FRESH HOP WHAT WE BREW IN THE SHADOWS
StormBreaker Brewing, Portland, OR, USA

5 - Fresh Hop Other Styles
Gold- HOUSE OF 1000 CONES
Moonraker Brewing, Cameron Park, Ca, USA

Silver- FRESH HOP TRIPLE DOUBLE
StormBreaker Brewing, Portland, OR, USA

Bronze- MOVING TARGETS
TapRoom Beer Co, San Diego, CA, USA

 

Weekly update...(new) added since last update. I think I'm up to 83? This is a lot of very, very satisfying work, my friends

Wow tier:

• Single Hill - Energy Cone
• Barley Brown - Mitch
• (new) Bale Breaker - Citra Slicker
• (new) Von Ebert - Fresh Hop Sector 7
• (new) Fort George + Ruse - Sediments of Memory
• Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend (Citra Italian Pils)

Really good tier:

• Great Notion - Fresh Hop Laser Wolf
• Reuben's - Fresh Hop Party Float
• Holy Mountain - Cone & Cone
• Reuben's - Fresh Hop Crikey
• Fremont - Hazy Cowiche
• Fremont - Cowiche Canyon
• (new) Breakside - Fresh Hop Mosaic IPA
• Fortside - Fresh Cut
• Fremont - Head Full of Fresh Hops
• Lumberbeard - Disco Weapon
• Bale Breaker + Russian River - Green Rush
• Occidental - Beer Further
• Obelisk - Fresh Hop Raking Light

Good+ tier:

• Single Hill - Skyfinder
• Von Ebert - Fresh Hop Volatile Substance
• Silver City - Centennial Wet Hop IPA
• Single Hill - Fresh Hop Lateralus A
• (new) Hellbent - Mid-Season Harvest Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
• Cloudburst - Make A Splash
• Bale Breaker - Haze Harvester
• Reuben's - Fresh Hop Hazealicious
• Fremont - Field to Ferment
• Wandering Hop - Twine Cutter
• Breakside - Double Wanderlust
• Block 15 - Sticky Hands Fresh Hop Edition
• (new) Fort George - Fresh Hop IPA
• Occidental - Fresh Hop Pilsner
• Single Hill - Six Sisters
• Holy Mountain - Fresh Hop HBC 1019
• Cowiche Creek - Grown4U
• Crux - Fresh is Best
• Sig - Pilscifer
• (new) Ferment - Fresh Hop Luminosa IPA
• Matchless - Farm Harvest Fresh Hop Ale
• (new) Georgetown - Dalton
• Reuben's - Fresh Hop Double Crush
• (new) Wander + Single Hill - Fresh Idle Canyons
• (new) Breakside - Fresh Hop Wanderlust
• Reuben's - Fresh Hop Nosegrab

Just Good tier:

• MeaoesunthVarietal - Freshclimber
• (new) Cloudburst - For Wet's Sake
• Trap Door - Fresh Glowed Up
• (new) pFriem - Fresh Hop West Coast IPA
• (new) Block 15 - Fresh Hop Static Shatter
• (new) Gold Dot + Wander - Fresh Hop Centennial
• Wandering Hop - Fresh Hop Googly Eyes
• (new) Black Raven - CGX Fresh Hop IPA
• (new) Georgetown - Lofty Hop Fresh Hop IPA
• Zoiglhaus - Fresh Hop Super Pils
• Machine House - Fresh Hop Strata IPA
• Ferment - Fresh Hop Tettnang Italian Pils
• (new) Georgetown - Fresh Hop King (Chinook)
• Structures - Fresh Hop Junior
• Away Days - Deadline Day
• Fremont - Pike
• Machine House - Fresh Hop Simcoe Bitter
• Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend (Simcoe IPA)
• Breakside - Fresh Hop Pilsner Hallertau
• Bizarre - Flowers of the Sky
• Great Notion - Fresh Hop Dune
• Matchless - Fresh Fluff
• Matchless - Easy Being Green
• (new) Ladd & Lass - 2024 Fresh Hop Hazy IPA with Citra from Carpenter Ranches
• (new) pFriem - Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
• Grains of Wrath - Built for Speed
• (new) Dru Bru - Fresh Hop IPA (Krush)
• (new) Hellbent - Late Harvest Fresh Hop IPA
• Machine House - Fresh Hop Strata Pale
• (new) Ladd & Lass - 2024 Fresh Hop WC IPA featuring Strata from Roy
• Zoiglhaus - Fresh Hop Kolsch
• Fair Isle - Wet Hop Lager
• Ilk - Fresh Hop Strata Pale

Meh tier:

• El Suenito - Lupulo Fresca
• Hellbent - Early Harvest
• Great Notion - Fresh Hop Van Beer
• No Boat - Wet Hop IPA
• (new) Vice - Fresh to Death

 

FARM FRESH PALLET JACK. That is all.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBHgSvBSuD0/

Although from the post, it sounds like a version using freshly harvested/dried/pelletized hops from the '24 harvest? So, it may not technically count as a FH beer - but I have no doubt it'll be delicious.

 

Pallet Jack, the Celebration version? Though, I'm much more likely to give this the benefit of the doubt as far as the hops being more special than the rest of the year when it's this close on the heels of the actual FH PJ.

 

This description kind of reminds me of the "Brewer's Cut" version of Sticky Hands, where they swap in slightly different, "hand-selected" hops. Or Ex Novo's "Brewer's Edition" of Eliot IPA.

So this would be a Pallet Jack variant, and not a true FH version.

I hope I get the chance to try this.

 

Tried out the FG FH Fields of Green tonight and while I enjoyed it, I didn't love it (echoing what most have said). It had a really nice aroma, but the flavors are pretty muted. I guess that's what happens when you put fresh hops into a hazy DIPA.

 

Also opened up a Reuben's FH Crikey last night and enjoyed it like I do every year. This year's, for me, wasn't up in that stellar tier, but still well worth drinking because Reuben's knows what they are doing.

This got me thinking a little bit. Reading over the FH posts from the past few weeks it SEEMS to me (I haven't run any numbers or anything) that for people from WA, the freshies from WA seem to dominate their top tier. For people from OR (me included), the freshies from OR seem to dominate their top tier. Given that because of distribution OR won't get WA beers for at least a couple weeks and vice versa from the canning date, is this simply because we drink the beers from the other state later? Or some small, unintended amount of homerism? Discuss.

 

I think there's something to your theory about freshness vs. interstate distribution. Despite being a Bellinghamster for a few months now, I still consider my beer allegiances to be Oregon-biased. My highest rated FH beers this season are tilted heavily toward Washington (it would be a lot closer if Single Hill was removed from the mix, but still WA-heavy).

 

Lot of newbies on those rewards, great!

 

Barley Brown's refers to the hops in Farm Fresh Pallet Jack as "properly dried hops from the 2024 crop that were harvested in Yakima last month."

The label for Single Hill Energy Cone Fresh Hop IPA has similar verbiage. In addition to "wet Perreault Mosaic and Black Star Citra," the description also includes hops that are called "fresh dried."

Are "fresh dried" hops a thing? Are they halfway between "fresh/wet hops" and "dried hops"?

Is "fresh dried hop beer" somewhere between "fresh hop beer" and "all other beer"?

How long does it take for "fresh dried hops" to become "dried hops"?

I don't know.

I do know that I really want more Farm Fresh Pallet Jack. (And so does Mrs. vurt.)

 

Coworker is headed to Seattle for a long weekend. Trying to get him to bring me back some fresh hop PNW beers. Gotta admit - this is the first potential beer pick up I've been absolutely thrilled with in awhile.

If you have suggestions that I can preorder from Burien Press or others for pick up, let me know!

 

Here's what I know so far this year...

 

This is exactly my beef with SN trying to distinguish between "fresh" and "wet". In October, saying you used dried hops from the current year's harvest still seems notable, more so if you're talking about Simcoe or Mosaic vs. Centennial or Cascade, but OK. In late November or December or even January, though?

In my experience, the difference between a fresh hop beer and one with only dried hops is much greater than a beer with 1 month old dried hops and a beer with 11 month old dried hops.