Fresh Hop 2024

You know, there could be another reason for that. Nah, too obvious

 

I think I only had one Oregon FH beer this season—I probably go for what’s more plentiful and familiar, but I’m not sure what percentage of Oregon beers actually made it north of the Columbia.

 

I have to wonder what percentage of BB and SH annual revenue is raked in during FH season

 

Speaking of Single Hill. My personal Grand Champion for the year. Ladies and gentlemen…

 

I rarely buy Single Hill’s “regular” offerings. Not that they are not worthy. I just find myself buying other stuff. When it comes to BB, I think their best beer is Dormancy. I don’t buy enough of it. BB’s other go to for me is their Frenz series. But their other stuff? Rarely.

But if it’s FH season, Single Hill slays it and BB and that shabby either. I eagerly buy them up.

 

A few of my faves won some hardware - SH Six Sister (bronze), SH Energy Cone (gold) and BB’s Citra Slicker (gold). Good to know I drank the good stuff.

 

Both of the Structures FH collabs released last weekend are worth your time: a DIPA with Horus and TIPA with Brujos. As someone who favors Pales and single IPAs, especially when delicate fresh hops are involved, both have FH character that holds up to the higher ABV.

 

Alright, I think I am likely tapped out as far as unique FH brews at this point, so I will compile my own little tiered list to share with the masses. I ultimately sampled 30 unique FH beers this year, and ended up sorting them into 7 tiers (which is too many for this type of exercise, but that’s where the groupings took me). Within each tier, I tried to order it roughly in the order I preferred them, but the tiers are grouped together for a reason.

I took some minimal notes throughout the season – not as detailed as I’ve done in years past, but the basic information – and rated each beer in four categories: FH aroma, FH ‘palate’ (basically if it pops as I’m drinking it/when the liquid is still in my mouth), FH finish (the lingering essence), and just the base beer overall (how much I enjoyed the base recipe irregardless of FH character). Personally, I think a good FH finish is the most sublime manifestation of the season, followed closely by a good nose. A good FH presence on the palate is important, but less crucial for my own personal ratings. So without further ado, the tiers, with some thoughts:


Tip top best in show, the reason for the season, etc:

-Fremont - Cowiche Canyon

-Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend (Citra Italian pils)

-Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend (Chinook IPA)

-Bale Breaker and Russian River - Green Rush


All four of these combine a phenomenal base beer with robust FH character throughout. The two Stoup offerings had the best finishes for me, while Cowiche and to a slightly lesser extent Green Rush were more just solid all around.


Very very good, but just couldn’t break into that top tier for whatever reason

-Reuben’s and Gnarley Barley - Fresh Hop Nosegrab

-Icicle - Fresh Hop Alpenhaze

-Bale Breaker and Cloudburst - Citra Slicker

-Kings & Daughters - Fill My Cup

-Block 15 - Fresh Hop Sticky Hands


Some pleasant surprises (Icicle and K&D) alongside some that are absolutely not surprises (Sticky Hands and Citra Slicker). These all featured a very good finish, which – as I stated above – is very important to me. Alpenhaze had probably the most impressive FH palate/body presence of the season for me, alongside Cowiche. High praise, indeed(.com).


Very good, but I don’t know, they just didn’t rise to the level of those above them

-Fort George - Fresh

-Wander - Fresh Idle Canyons

-Ravenna - Wet Season: Strata

-Holy Mountain and Brujos - Garden Green


This tier is kind of the last of the three top tiers. I enjoyed these four brews quite a bit, but they just weren’t quite on the level of the nine above them. This is kind of the turning point from the impressive to the just good.


Still good, but starting to show some holes

-Ladd & Lass - 2024 Fresh Hop Hazy India Pale Ale Featuring Citra Hops From Carpenter Ranches

-Seapine - Mosaic Fresh Hop

-Seapine - Citra Fres Hop

-Single Hill - Six Sisters

-Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend (Simcoe IPA)

-Block 15 - Static Shatter


We start to see some brews with noticeable weaknesses, not just absence of strengths. L&L had functionally no FH aroma (but a solid FH finish, hence its inclusion in this tier). 6S was also absent a FH nose (I expect that this is the one that will cause the most disagreement as the rest of the board seemed to love this one), and had some FH palate, but less of a finish than L&L. Both Seapine offerings had lovely noses, but the Citra had minimal FH finish, with the Mosaic only slightly better there, but with minimal FH character across the middle palate. This version of FHF was just kind of ‘eh’ all around. Decent but not great, and certainly not up to the level of its siblings (which also kind of surprised me as I usually quite enjoy Simcoe). Static Shatter had a decent finish, but nothing across the body and only mediocre aromatics.


Now we’re mostly in the land of ‘decent beer, but not much FH specialness.’ Mostly.

-Holy Mountain - HBC 1019

-Ex Novo - Fresh Hop Eliot

-Fremont - Head Full of Fresh Hops

-Machine House - Fresh Hop Citra

-Jellyfish - Mandatory Fun

-Fremont - Field to Ferment

-Holy Mountain - As Within, So Without


Jellyfish had one of the more interesting FH beers this year to me. Overall it was just kind of mediocre, but the aroma was probably the purest expression of Centennial hops I’ve ever encountered. I feel like it gave me a much deeper understanding and appreciation for what that hop offers and that was kind of neat. Overall that’s the one outstanding characteristic from this tier. Machine House FH beers rarely pop with the FH character, but they’re always quirky and interesting and unique, and that holds true here, though I couldn’t really tell you… how. The rest of it is mostly ‘eh, it’s alright, but nothing special.’


Meh

-Reuben’s - Fresh Hop Crikey

-Black Raven - CGX Fresh Hop


Crikey’s inclusion this low is the other opinion I expect to raise some eyebrows based on the experience of others on this thread. CGX actually had a pretty solid FH finish, but the beer overall was just kind of meh.


Oof.

-Matchless - StrataFresh

-Fort George - Fields of Green


I didn’t enjoy either of these. Nor did I get much if any FH character out of them. FoG in particular is not helped by the fact that I really don’t enjoy that particular IPA profile at all.


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And why not let’s dive into some minor analysis. It was a good FH season overall, I would say.

The two Stoup options in the top tier were the only two brews to get a perfect score for finish, but there was a huge selection that still had at least very good FH finish, and only a handful with weak/minimal finish, and all had at least some. This is an improvement over previous years in my experience.

Cowiche Canyon and Icicle’s Alpenhaze scored the only two perfect scores for FH palate. It’s a smaller grouping here that still features at least very good, with a much bigger middle class with just mediocre FH presence. A trio of well respected brewers offered the only three brews that I felt I didn’t notice any FH presence across the middle of the palate really at all (Reuben’s/Fort George/Block 15).

Aromatics was the least impressive category on the balance of things, with no perfect scores, and seven different options where I couldn’t really detect much of any FH character to the nose.

There was a lot of Citra and Strata used in the FH beers I tried this year (at least those are the two most common hops where I’m aware of the hop bill).

I wasn't as aggressive in pursuing the hops this year, but still managed to sample what feels like a decent number of them. I think I was surprised that Holy Mountain didn't show better as I usually think of them as one of the most reliable breweries in the city. I also didn't get over to Burke-Gilman this year, whereas previously I've been consistently impressed with their FH offerings and remember them being among my favourite options the last few years. I also usually end up with more Cloudburst in my fridge, but didn't this year for whatever reason. I feel like they've gone from overhyped to under the radar, just in general, but they still make some pretty incredible stuff. Bale Breaker and Stoup were probably my two favourite breweries for this years batch, and that doesn't REALLY surprise me that much.


Cheers y'all and happy freshing!

 

Stopped into John's in Beaverton just to see if I could snag any of these last FH offerings I've been hearing about. They had SH Energy Cone and Lateral A, plus FG Krush Architect, which is pretty much what I was looking for (and they had more if anyone is interested). This Energy Cone...wow! Popping open that can was like getting a kick of freshie aroma in the teeth. Just a fantastic beer - y'all weren't kidding about how good Single Hill is. I'm glad I bought two, but now I'm also sad because I only bought two. And now only have one left.