Fresh Hop Season 2021

Which, as you well know, I will never accept.

So.

You want to just keep beating down the same grass until August '22?

And then start anew?

Cool.

I'm in.

 

Make sure you have your distributors license, FTC permits, and post all the alcohol on your states LCB website before sale. Bootlegging is, after all, still illegal.

Not that I'd know.......

 

I have no dog in the "fresh" vs "wet" fight... Our method is taking fresh harvested, undried hops that we typically get from the farm in the morning we intend to use them. They get flash frozen with liquid nitrogen so we can crush them easily, the point being to expose more of the lupulin glands and oils for easier extraction in the beer. The hops immediately get bagged and thrown into a sanitized brite tank, which gets purged with oxygen and then finished beer is transferred onto the hops. We recirculate the beer for a while, carb it, and package it within a day or two.

I think the results in terms of the preservation of flavor and especially aroma speak for themselves. The process has won many awards and been adopted by many others who have also won awards using it. But at the end of the day, fresh hop season is mostly just for the fun of it. The amount of FH beer is a drop in the bucket and is a lot of extra work for very little actual benefit. It's a way to celebrate our region and I think more of the attention for FH season should go to honoring the farmers and workers who provide something crucial to our industry year round.

 

I was particularly impressed with that one as well. And we must have passed by your fam as we were fortunate enough to be at the game, too (and the Kraken game that evening, for that matter)!
Glad you enjoyed it. What a season it has been

I'm digging into my last* unique FH offering for the year, and it is the 55th I've had this season. By far the most I've ever gotten to in one season (thankfully I have a partner who jumped in with both feet... if she hadn't embraced things so fully, left to my own devices, I probably wouldn't have gotten past 30, ha!). And for that matter, as stated before, this FH season I've probably surpassed the previous six months (or more) combined of beer drinking just for the freshies! Truly, this is the most wonderful time of year. And the goodnatured back and forth about fresh vs wet (I've never heard a song about someone being so wet and so clean clean... just saying) just adds to it. Cheers, and thanks to all the brewers/farmers/everyone else involved in the process for what is truly the season for celebration.


I want to compile a list of all 55, similar to what has been posted in this thread previously, but it might take me a minute. Be right back...

 

Well, that Seahawks game was much better than the previous one, for sure. That game went a long ways toward making me want to punch a baby.

 

I liked the idea of tiers as opposed to a straight ordening, so . Within tiers there could be some jostling, and I'm sure as I finish off the stragglers from the four-packs my opinions will change and all that, but for now, this is how I would organize them, with all the given caveats regarding time and place and personal preference and that.
Some of the placements -- especially compared to other placements -- really surprised me.

Tier one: (9)
Holy Mountain - Strata Fresh Hop
Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend: Mosaic
Varietal + Holy Mountain - Hopfen Keller
Ex Novo - FH Eliot
Burke-Gilman - Seems So Long Since We Walked in the Moonlight
Ravenna - Wet Season: SABRO
Ravenna - Wet Season: SIMCOE
Fremont - Head Full of Fresh Hops


Tier two: (21)
Burke-Gilman - Fresh Hopotheosis
Stemma - Fractured Universe
Holy Mountain + Cloudburst - Wetwired
Fremont - Hazy Cowiche Canyon
Machine House - Fresh Hop Simcoe Bitter
Holy Mountain - Cone & Cone
Ravenna - Wet Season: STRATA
Breakside - What Fresh Beast
Cloudburst - Wet Is As Wet Does
Bale Breaker - Homegrown Beer No. 8
Matchless - Fresh Pine
Seapine - Citra Fresh Hop
Hellbent - Strata Fresh Hop
Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend: Cashmere

HUB - Fresh Hop Downstream
Stoup - Yesterday's Sunset
Single Hill - Ecstasy of Pink
Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend Italian Pilsner
Matchless - Fresh Fluff
Ravenna - Wet Season: MOSAIC
Silver City - Wet Hop Tropic Haze

Tier three: (19)
Fremont - Field to Ferment
Holy Mountain + Fast Fashion - Buckaroo of the Year
Block 15 - Fresh Catch
Fremont - Cowiche Canyon
Ex Novo - Fresh Hop Mass Ascension
Cloudburst - Wetness Protection Program
Lumberbeard - Fresh Dreams
Cloudburst - Aqua Seafoam Shame
Cloudburst - Wet Brurrito

Loowit - Lando Hoprissian
Little Beast - Green Keeper
Matchless - Fresh Bois
Level - Fresh-Hop American Lager
HUB - Fresh Hop Abominable
Breakside - @Portland Citra
Future Primitive - Centennials for Millennials
Black Raven - Fresh Hop West Coast IPA
Occidental - Fresh Hop Pilsner
Fort George - Rock, Paper, Centennial

Tier the fourth: (7)
Cascade Lakes - Koosah
Old Stove - Fresh Hop Streaker Citra Hazy Pale
Wander - Idaho Gem
Flying Lion - Strata Fresh Hop Pale Ale
Matchless - Easy Being Green

Ground Breaker - EPOCH Fresh Hop
Level - Fresh-Hop Hazy IPA

While both are obviously important, and the ranking reflect how much I liked the beer overall, I did weight things more in favour of good FH expression in a decent beer over a good beer with minimal FH expression, if that makes sense.
Overall, the winner is obvious: me (and all y'all for the same reasons).
I really enjoyed the variety of different approaches to the theme, and I feel like it helped me to get a better handle on some of the individual hops themselves as well (for example, my partner REALLY likes Citra).
I also appreciated that the rankings were not all clusetered to a specific time frame either: my top rated FH beer was one of the earlier ones I had, but the second place participant was one of the more recent ones, with that same temporal distribution to be found throughout.
Anyway, cheers everyone, and until this time next season... at least we've still got great beer all over, even if it's not fresh hopped anymore!!

 

This season has been awesome...

 

Yeah. Though, honestly, a big part of it was: for someone who's supposed to be the second coming... Trevor Lawrence just looks... bad.
But: hey, I'll take it!
We were sitting a couple of rows in front of some very vociferous Jags fans. The combination of dejection and inebriation by the end of the game was pretty satisfying, too. Plus, I got to meet Taima, THE Seahawk!!

 

I wasn't entirely sure there were Jag fans. How did Miami even lose to them? Were the Dolphins delivered to the wrong stadium?

 

Such things exist?

 

At Roscoes last night had F.H. Piney the Fresher by Laurelwood and it was delicious. Top 10 favorite. Maybe top 5

 

Clearing out some stragglers. Finishing up a Ferment Chinook FH. Solid, nice, but one was probably enough for this year.

 

Yeah, there was a little bit of that at the game too, ha. Would have been augmented if we'd actually signed him a couple of weeks back.
We were also surrounded by a couple of Rangers fans at the Kraken game that night, and they were much less drunken/obnoxious, and much more knowledgeable/conversational

 

An Uplifting Work Of Staggering Wetness, by Cloudburst, might be my last of the season.

Unless, I find stragglers in my stash or at the store.

 

Welp... it's November, and my beer fridge is officially out of FH choices. Actually kind of excited to get through a bunch of the lagers I've been stockpiling! 40-some unique FH beers tried this year, mostly sticking to my rules of WCIPA over hazy, single IPAs over double, and ignoring Strata beers (just not my thing). Some superlatives:

BEST IPAs:
- Sunriver D'Kine (Mosaic)
- Breakside FH Wanderlust (Cascade)
- Little Machine Mosaic
- Fremont Head Full of Fresh Hops (Mosaic+Citra)
- Reuben's Double Crush (Citra - breaking 2 rules... Hazy and DIPA, but damn good)
- Double Mountain Killer Green (Centennial)

BEST NON-IPAs:
- Zoigl-kolsch (Tettnang)
- Boss Rambler Stokes Fresh (willamette)
- Heater Allen Harvest Lager (Willamette)

BREWERY NOTES
- Grains of Wrath - tried Dystopia, Crypt Keeper, and Grave Dancer, all of which were very good (just below my top tier above). Had not tried any FH beers from them before.
- Same for Breakside, tried most of their FH beers this year and were all very good to excellent.
- However, was not enamored with Ft. George FH beers this year. Rock Paper Centennial and Fresh (Simcoe) were not as good as some of their non-FH IPAs.
- Fremont HFOFH was great, but thought Cowiche was not as good as past years. Didn't find any F2F sadly.
- Zoiglhaus Oktoberfresh this year was not as good as last, and far below Zoigl-kolsch.

DISHONORABLE MENTION
- Worst of the year was Lumberbeard/Varietal Fresh Connection, by a mile. Intrigued by El Dorado FH, but it was a smoky mess that honestly shouldn't have been released.

 

My Fresh Hop Season 2021:

Numbers

• Number of different FH beers I tried this year: 82 (What? I split a lot of beers with Mrs. vurt.)
• Number of different hops: 23
• Most popular hops: Strata and Centennial (14 beers each), Simcoe (12), and Mosaic (10)
• Most popular hop farms: Goschie Farms, Silverton, OR (10 beers), Crosby Hop Farm, Woodburn, OR (8), Coleman Farms, Woodburn, OR (7)
• Number of different beer styles: 9*

Favorites
Listed in the order I tried them:

• Ex Novo Fresh Hop Eliot IPA (Goschie Farms Centennial)
• Zoiglhaus Fresh Hop Kölsch (Goschie Farms Tettnang)
• Breakside Fresh Hop Sterling Pilsner (Sterling)
• Breakside Fresh Hop Wanderlust IPA (Cascade)
• Sasquatch Fresh Hop Don't Be Scared IPA (Amarillo)
• Breakside Fresh Hop India Golden Ale (Crystal)
• Grains of Wrath Fresh Hop Grave Dancer IPA (Simcoe)
• Machine House Fresh Hop Simcoe Bitter (Simcoe)
• Barley Brown's Fresh Hop Pallet Jack IPA (Mosaic)
• Von Ebert Fresh Hop Volatile Substance IPA (Mosaic)
• Fremont Head Full of Fresh Hops (Citra, Mosaic)

Most Improved
After two years of comments like "not the Block 15 fresh hop ale I was hoping for" and "I'm not sorry I tried it, but it's disappointing," Block 15 finally produced a fresh hop ale worth their name. This year's Fresh Catch was an IPA instead of a Pale Ale, and its fresh Amarillo goodness left me "quite pleasantly surprised." This year's Mazama Green Magic was also an unexpectedly good beer, and Double Mountain Killer Green was several steps back in the right direction.

Dark Horse
Sasquatch Fresh Hop Don't Be Scared IPA was my dark horse winner for 2021. A stunningly good fresh hop beer from a brewer whose offerings I generally consider solid to good.

Best Value
4-packs of Bend Brewing Fresh Trop IPA (BC Hop Ranch Simcoe)

-----

* Full disclosure: 75% of the FH beers I tried this year were IPAs. So there's that.

 

I never did get a glass of standard Cowiche Canyon this year, although I had one of the hazy version at Community Pint a couple weeks ago. Rachel, who co-owns CP and is also the head brewer at TT's, told me she felt it was a little smoky, but my palate wasn't sensitive enough to note it, at least not that night.

 

I made it up to around 70 this year - some pours bigger than others. Some I revisited several times, so I was lucky to try once. It truly is the greatest time to drink beer.

My favorites in alpha order:

Barley Brown's Fresh Hop Pallet Jack (Mosaic)
Breakside Fresh Hop WanderJack Strata
Breakside Fresh Hop Wanderlust
Breakside Fresh Sterling Pilsner
Ex Novo Fresh Hop Eliot Simcoe
Ex Novo Fresh Hop Perle Haggard
Fort George Fresh IPA Simcoe
Fremont Field to Fermont
pFriem Fresh Hop El Dorado IPA
Ruse Intercepter (Fresh Hop 2021)
Trap Door Fresh Glowed Up
Von Ebert Volatile Substance - Fresh Hop
Zoiglhaus Fresh Hop Sterling Pilsner

I have true love for the nose punch from a fresh hop Sterling Pilsner and what has to be the easiest drinking beer on this planet. More of those, please.

 

I heard a number of people mention it, but I detected no trace of smoke, myself.

 

Well what a glorious surprise for me! Just arrived in the cooler, canned 10/19, Homegrown Wet Hop Ale from Moonlight brewing. An amazing soft mouthfeel and na intriguing floral, herbal, peachy flavor.

Apparently they are starting their own hop farm as they describe this beer as "infused with our entire harvest of Sonoma County grown hops..."

Nice little surprise for the end of the season

 

I'm still drinking through my stash, cowiche has been my favorite this year. Again. As usual. HFOFH is great as well. There is a decided decline in the number of FH beers CO brewers have produced in the last decade. FH Superpower was the only local I grabbed, and it can hang with the Fremont freshies.

As for wet hopped vs fresh hopped... a recipe will usually call for FRESH Thyme instead of dry Thyme when cooking. I have never seen it called WET Thyme. When buying fruits and veggies the ones that haven't been somehow processed are called FRESH produce. Frozen peas are NOT fresh. What I deduce from this is that hops harvested and immediately used in beer would be fresh hops. Hops that are frozen are no longer fresh. Hops that have been kiln dried are no longer fresh. Beer is food and the nomenclature should be consistent.

 

The lady at Ridgewood also talked about the smoke she found in CC this year, and gave us a taster as an example, as she felt people should be aware of what they were getting themselves into. I didn't really get any smoke in the taster (I think, in retrospect, it was the hazy version). I had a can of the clear CC, and a crowler of the hazy. I didn't note any smoke in the hazy version, and the canned base CC, I could find a touch of smoke astringency at the very end, but mostly when I was looking for it. (side note: Got a lot of my FH haul from Ridgewood, after never having been there before. Really positive first impressions. Looking forward to revisiting in the future.)

There was a little bit of smoke, but I think it was overblown in general. I also didn't feel this year's cowiche was as strong as years past in general, unfortunately, though I actually felt like the little bit of smoke I did note actually kind of worked. Like I don't think I'd go out of my way to seek out a smoked IPA, but I think the flavours can come together to still create something tasty.

 

Fresh hop shopping trips this year were my first experiences with Ridgewood, but I wasn't able to sit and have a pint. It's on my list now, though, maybe the next time wife and I have a day off without the kids...

 

Found one from Atwood yesterday, will probably get to it later today.

 

One of the many awesome things about FH season is appreciating how the same beer is different things to different people. I'm used to people not sharing my taste in music/beer/food/life choices, but when I see a FH beer unappreciated, it's uniquely puzzling. This year, it's Rock, Paper, Centennial. I don't understand y'all who don't love it.

 

!

Not long after they opened (and long before they sold themselves to AB-InBev), Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles made a smoked IPA. It needed more finesse than they were capable of at the time, but as a proof of concept I thought it was really tasty.

You know who could probably make a good smoked IPA? Wayfinder. Yes indeed.

 

Or, since their Rauch Helles is the only smoke beer I actually like, I nominate pFriem. We'll create a market for those smoke-tainted hops and a new NW tradition all in one fell swoop.

 

I like every syllable of this post.

 

https://mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/herbs-spices/bulk
I know that most people aren't herbalists and don't work with herbs regularly. Mountain Rose is one of the premier suppliers of herbs in the country and based in oregon.

Please go on their website and find me an herb that isn't dried

 

https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/healthy-living/dried-vs-fresh-herbs-which-is-better/

It appears dried and fresh aren't the same thing. The dried herbs can be fresh as in the dried herbs haven't been sitting around, but they're still not fresh herb. The adjective is describing the dried herbs. However when describing food....
"fresh

/freSH/

adjective
1.(of food) recently made or obtained; not canned, frozen, or otherwise preserved.
"fresh fruit""

Seems that brewers aren't the most educated of folks...

And for fun ...
wet

/wet/

adjective
1.covered or saturated with water or another liquid.
"she followed, slipping on the wet rock"

Seems like all hops get wet, but only non processed hops would be fresh. Your example, while a good try to confuse, misses the mark for me Spidey...

 

@unlikelyspiderperson

Maria (Mountain Rose Herbs)

Nov 7, 2021, 6:24 AM PST

Hello, Jason,

Thank you for reaching out! I sincerely apologize for any confusion. We sell dried herbs. The word fresh is only meant to convey that we don't leave them sitting around gathering dust and going stale. Again, I apologize for any confusion. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance and I hope you have a wonderful day!
Maria - Customer Service Representative

Maybe they are a subsidiary of Sierra nevada?