Fresh Hop Season 2021

I too had this cheeky brew today: super clean, interestingly finished better in my mind than started.
Better than riip's wet statacaster i had on tap yesterday.
Manana i'll try my first from kern river/wet exit, still, i'm curious as to sierra nevada's northern hemisphere, over the years hit or miss, when it's on considerable more full flavor, superb sleeper

 

Don’t sleep on Green Cheek! I thought their WCIPAs were fantastic. They ship in CA, if you’ve cleared out your fridge already…

 

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Thanks for the tip, I'm gonna go get to that clearing. And now that the kids are asleep see if any of these old toys grandma sent from when I was a kid are worth anything on ebay.

Also, anyone heard any word on ghost town doing a wet hop beer this year? I really liked their mosaic brew last year and always enjoy an excuse to order from them

 

Hey, anybody got any hot leads on fresh hop beers that could possibly be available near the City of Industry in California? Asking for a friend. (like, actually asking for a friend who lives in the City of Industry)

 

Thanks! Hitting Green Cheek first thing after work on Friday. Super pumped for some local FRESH hop beer.

 

Cloudburst seemed to brag about this too, "because we brew with them on the hot side aka #therightway."

I'm curious what some of the other breweries that have been around much longer feel about that statement. Do and of you notice a difference? Hot and cold side vs just cold side?

 

Ok I'll bite. I am in agreement with Cloudburst about hot side being the "right way", it's the way I've been making fresh hop beers for 14 harvests. When you use fresh hops on the cold side you're not accessing the oils inside the cones, there is a lot more contact with the vegetal material hence the hop flavor is more "green or vegetal". That is why Breakside developed their liquid nitrogen fresh hop shatter technique, which is effective at accessing those oils and allows them to pump out a ton of really nice fresh hop beers quickly, but it is different than stuffing a bunch of fresh hops in a sack and stuffing it in your brite tank. When used on the hot side you're getting a more, what I call, "fully saturated" hop flavor that, as opposed to cold side additions, actually has a lot of staying power as the beer ages. I think that a slight majority of breweries in Oregon support using fresh hops on the hot side over cold side but the reason there seems to be more cold side is that they are released earlier. A good rule of thumb is that if you're drinking a fresh hop beer and harvest just started, hops are being used on the cold , if the beer is coming out mid-september or later it's a good bet the hops were on the hot side.

 

Thank @ZachB for the detailed answer, makes a lot of sense.

My favorites while out there were breakside (now I know why), bale breakers and Fremonts. I’m guessing they must use them hot side as well? Because the last two came out just last week when we were there.

 

Excellent. Now we can add "hot/cold" to the "wet/fresh" debate every season!

 

To add a little spice to the hot side/cold side, here’s Ben from Breakside in 2016:

"It's something of a dirty little secret in the region, but most of the best fresh-hop beers are not brewed with 100 percent fresh hops, not even close," Edmunds says. "I think any brewer who wants to make the case that's not a real fresh-hop beer just needs to get over it, because the beers are better if you do it that way."

https://www.wweek.com/bars/2016/02/23/the-beer-of-the-year-breakside-brewery-fresh-hop-simcoe/

Non-brewer question: are whirlpool additions still considered “hot side,” or is everything after flameout considered “cold side”?

 

“Cold side” is after the wort has run through the heat exchanger. Hot side is anything before that. Whirlpool hops are hot side. Ben is right that brewers have evolved and most fresh hop beers include dried hops as well. We find a small dry hop addition (.75-1 lb per barrel) helps make the fresh hops “pop”.

 

I'll be hitting GC tomorrow for their fresh wet cans and then on Saturday for the OktoberFest.

 

Deschutes Chasin' Freshies is available now at the pubs and for shipping according to their online store. Fresh Triumph and Cashmere paired with some German hops.

 

Kendall's weekly FH update: http://washingtonbeerblog.com/fresh...4L0GFw6wAei1VNGBwp5S9niOuegqvo9SEl5MYqeB5mt-w

 

Went to look at a few reviews to see what people thought on Untappd (yeah, I know...) and it must have just been released today - not even a 2021 listing yet. However, there's lots of people that have been drinking 2020 Chasin' Freshies as recently as the last couple weeks and it made me very, very sad. I quite enjoyed it last year, but no way I want to be drinking year-old fresh hops.

 

Quick question; I grabbed a Field to Ferment (dated 9/15/21) but I'm not seeing a hop variety anywhere on the can. Anybody know?

 

From Instagram:

 

But they do several F2Fs every year right? Is this just the first for the year?

 

They have done several F2Fs at least several times, but I'm not sure they actually did multiple last year. Not sure if they have multiple planned this year. I hope so.

 

Went with a can of Hellbent Strata FH IPA. Reviewed last years version, and this year the mustiness I noted last year seems stronger, and less citrus.

 

That used to make its way out here. Once upon a time I used to drive to Philadelphia to grab it each fall. Deschutes is here in NJ now but they’ve never sent chasin freshies to my knowledge.

 

Driving out to Philly...you were chasin' Chasin' Freshies!

 

So, shamelessly 'borrowing' the tier-format that others have put into use further upthread, my experiences so far have been A: tasty, and B: thusly:

tier 1:
Holy Mountain - Strata Fresh Hop
Ex Novo - FH Eliot (Strata)
Burke-Gilman - Seems So Long Since We Walked In the Moonlight
Ravenna - Wet Season (Sabro)
tier 2:
Matchless - Fresh Pine
Bale Breaker - Homegrown Series #8
Holy Mountain - Cone & Cone
Fremont - Field to Ferment
Level - Fresh Hop American Lager
Machine House - Fresh Hop Simcoe Bitter
Breakside - @Portland Citra
Ex Novo - Fresh Hop Mass Ascension
tier 3:
Wander - Idaho Gem
HUB - Fresh Hop Abominable
Ft. George - Rock, Paper, Centennial
Ground Breaker - EPOCH Fresh Hop

I would happily drink any of these overall, but specifically within the Fresh Hop context, I think that's how they'd break down, at least based on first impressions (for those that came in 4-packs), and with all the caveats of setting, order of consumption, etc. Also, especially within that second tier, there is not much separation within the tiers. We live in a wonderful place.

 

Update #3 - Stopped by Kennewick Yoke’s on the way home. Mission - BB homegrown #8. No dice. Head scratch. Will try MCWAS tomorrow.

Anyway - new additions. Breakside’s FH Wanderlust (canned 9/7) and FH flagship IPA and SingleHill’s FH Ecstasy of Pink.

All three were 18.99. So, could only grab one. FH is a spend habit and I still have some from my last haul.

Anyway, I grabbed Wanderlust and I admit I was thinking it was wanderJACK. Dang it. Would have checked the dates on the flagship IPA and Ecstasy. Still looking forward to cracking the wanderlust, just worried FH may be faded.

 

I drank the Breakside FH IPA & Wanderlust last weekend and they were fabulous, so have faith!

 

Is there A FH WanderJACK? Maybe I just thought there was.

 

I think I saw it on the taplist at Beveridge Place?

 

so maybe it is in cans? @afrokaze. Is so, to quote Lloyd Christmas… “So you’re telling me there’s a chance.?!”

 

First Tier (I want to go out of my way to get more of this stuff)

1. Holy Mountain - Strata Fresh Hop IPA
2. Bale Breaker - Seasonal Creeper Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
3. Fremont - Field to Ferment
4. Holy Mountain - Cone & Cone fresh hop
   
5. Breakside - Fresh Hop Wanderlust
   
6. Bale Breaker - Home Grown Beer #8 Fresh Hop
7. Level - FH IPA
8. Reuben's - FH Hazealicious
9. Holy Mountain - FH Citra infused Awake Limbs lager

Second Tier (I hope I run across it again)

1. Fort George - Rock, Paper, Centennial
2. Ex Novo - FH Eliot Simcoe (after I drank it for a while, it nudged up above Centennial)
3. Ex Novo - FH Eliot Centennial
4. Silver City - Wet Hop Tropic Haze with Strata
5. Level - Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
   
6. Wander - Idaho Gem Fresh Hop IPA
   
7. Cascade Lakes - Koosah
   
8. Hopworks - FH Abominable
9. Matchless - Old Pine

Third Tier (I'd drink it again happily, but probably wouldn't take it home with me)

1. Matchless CSA
2. Level FH Oktoberfest
3. Matchless - Easy Being Green
4. Fortside - Fresh Cut
5. Machine House - Fresh Hop Simcoe Bitter
   
6. Stoup - Triumph Fresh Hop
   
7. Crux Pert Near
8. Flying Lion - Strata Fresh Hop
   
9. Hellbent - Fresh Hop Strata IPA

 

No. Draft only but available for crowler and growler fills.

 

Yep, FH Wanderjack with Strata was the first one we put out this year. Cans are probably pretty tough to find by this point though.

 

Due to reasons, my FH consumption is well behind the curve this year. I just finally got around to entering my review of that Wander Idaho Gem today. In a shocking development, I was the lowest score. Both @kemoarps and @snaotheus rated it significantly higher than I did. I don't think that's the hop for me.

 

I liked the FH Wanderlust better than the FH Wanderjack fwiw. I might just like Cascade better than Strata though.

 

The Stoup FH Italian Pils is pretty damn good, but this is from a WCIPA guy who doesn't drink a lot of Pilsners.

 

I think that’s me with strata. I get some faint dank notes and berry, but I gotta work hard to detect it. Maybe I’m an oddball or heathen in that sense. The silver lining is, if I remember this next September, I’ll save more money, time, and liver capacity to focus on Simcoe, Mosaic, Centennial, Citra, Loral, and experimental varieties of hops.

 

Having a Fresh Hop Holy Schmidt from Sunriver.
Strange. FH American Lager..it different.

 

second tonight. Ex Novo FH Eliot. Strata..lovely stuff. Really good.i am happy I have to work during the week or I would be spending a whole lot on FHs

 

I was told last night that Whistle Punk just brewed their FH beer, which will be ready in around a month. Heard the same news about Black Label as well.

Lumberbeard apparently tapped a FH beer yesterday. I'll probably hit it either tomorrow or Saturday.

Perry Street has three FH beers right now, all of which I hit Tuesday night. All were legit, but my favorite was their Hasselhopfenbombe, a FH "Cold IPA."

Not sure if Hidden Mother has any FH beers on yet. As I noted upthread, they are said to be planning to release twelve FH beers.