Fresh Hop Season 2022

Fresh Hop Ripe at Great Notion is destined for top tier status

 

You had me at chinook.

 

StormBreaker Set Freshies To Haze FH hazy IPA (left) for Mrs. vurt and VIA Proper Dose FH IPA (right) for me.



The VIA beer is good, with some melon and weed FH flavors and respectable bitterness. The StormBreaker beer is a BIG improvement over the canned version. Pungent with fresh hoppiness.

 

Possibly. The FH Mosaic at Breakside brought a smile to my face last night. Looking forward to more of them!

 

Next up: Grains of Wrath/Ghost Town At Dawn They Sleep IPA (left) for my metalhead wife, and Hetty Alice Fresh Hop West Coast IPA (right) for me.



Wow. This is fantastic. Pungent in the nose and absolutely rude with fresh hops on the tongue. Top tier.

I don't know if this is the same as Hetty Alice Super Fresh! IPA, but if you see this beer on tap, grab it.

 

Enjoying this Ex Novo Fresh Hop Full Length Jeans with Citra at the Portland location.

 

My first take-home edition of this year's FH season was a success.

Delicious. Pretty fresh, too. Canned 4 DAYS AGO!

 

I had a glass of it last night and it didn't do it for me, a little too much diesel for my liking, but nicely dank otherwise. I'll revisit it based on your recommendation!

 

I did not like the fresh hop Abominable this year. To me it was an overly sweet mess, even though it did have some fresh character. I think this is a beer that needs to be canned very recently to come together, or wait 30-40 days to let the flavors meld better (maybe?). I’ve liked this one in the past.

 

Currently enjoying Fresh Hop Full Length Jeans IPA (with fresh Citra hops) at Ex Novo.



Nice fresh raw Citra hops in there. Delicious.

 

@vurt, I also tried the Fresh Hop Intergalactic Pale w Amarillo. Think I liked that one a little better than the Jeans.

 

This year is very good, maybe terrific.

 

I 2nd that. Drinking another one now. It’s very good. I’m a fan of regular Ripe too but some batches have been better than others. This years FH is much better than the OG.

 

You made it that close to The Study and missed out? The FH Landform is quite excellent.

And rejoice! This year's FH Pils from Occidental is excellent. Spicy and fragrant, this is a great pils.

 

Agreed, because those fresh Amarillos were everything I want from fresh Amarillo hops.

 

Man, the Breakside FH IPAs really capture the essence of the style. Both, the FH Trade Secrets and Wanderlust have been excellent, the latter more so. FH burps are the best.

 

Fresh Amarillo just makes me want FH Pallet Jack.

 

The Via Proper Dose is great outta can. I suspect delicious on tap

 

Sitting on the porch, watching the weekend wind down most agreeably with a nice Rock, Paper, Chinook Wet Hop Pale Ale from Fort George.



The fresh hop flavors are prominent and spicy, a tasty mix of citrus, diesel, and green pepper with a breath of pine.

Mrs. vurt is drinking a Baerlic Stay Fresh IPA, and is making numerous yummy sounds.

 

Moxee Milieu from Single Hill. The nose on this one is gorgeous.

 

I'll consider this the first week where I've had a substantial amount of fresh hops, and we'll see where it goes from here. Here's my list so far:

Super Tier

• 2022-09-17: Great Notion - Fresh Hop Ripe
• 2022-09-16: Breakside - Fresh Hop Trade Secrets
• 2022-09-18: Single Hill - Moxee Milieu

Quite Nice Tier

• 2022-09-10: Reuben’s - Crispy Freshy
• 2022-09-04: Fremont - Fiddlers Green Wet Hopped IPA
• 2022-09-17: Stoup - Fresh Hop Fiend Strata
• 2022-09-10: Single Hill - On the Road Again
• 2022-09-10: Single Hill - Rodeo 1: Von Ebert
• 2022-09-10: Single Hill - Rodeo 2: Wayfinder
• 2022-09-10: Single Hill - Rodeo 3: Gigantic
• 2022-09-07: Matchless - Farm Harvest Fresh Hop Ale

Pretty Good Tier

• 2022-09-18: Matchless - Easy Being Green
• 2022-09-17: Crux - Pert Near (McKenzie)
• 2022-09-17: Flying Lion - Fresh Hop Pale Ale (Amarillo)

Nope Tier

• 2022-08-28: Garden Path - The Wet Hopped Ship (Saison) (to be fair, it’s last year’s, but they re-released it)
  

 

The Away Days Fresh Hop Deadline Pale makes me very happy. Centennial goodness.

 

Matchless Farm Harvest was pretty meh, so I grabbed a Loowit FH Lando Hoprissian (centennial) from the beer fridge hoping to end the weekend on a better note. Well, mission accomplished - the Lando is excellent. Crisp, snappy, cloudy without going full hazy, and a slightly oily FH finish (in the best way) that lingers. Might have to grab another can or two!

 

Finally dipping into the last can I have on hand... I've got to go stock back up!
Ferment's FH Centennial Pale Ale.



It's an absolutely beautiful pour. The nose doesn't have as much FH as I'd hoped, especially based on the other generally pretty positive impressions on here. Thankfully, the flavour picks up on that front. A good bitter blast, and then a little swell of FH character. Not overwhelming, but solid. I think I still prefer the Wanderjack and Farm Harvest, but it's miles better than the other options I've sampled thus far.

 

Looks like Perry Street has a FH beer on now. Will be explored later this week.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...HbeGnBCFejiSBa88C5XzSCdq2l&id=100063701166298

 

Garland Brew Werks has a FH Cold IPA.
https://www.facebook.com/1021720554...9rbitK6HsARrzFDskLNtLv3eWCut4tGPXAiNz4K3y9jl/

 

Word on the street is that Lumberbeard has a hazy IPA brewed with fresh Strata hops on tap now. It was foreshadowed in this post from the beginning of the month.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2897516897222688&substory_index=0&id=1832014907106231

 

Iron Goat is subtly hinting they're going to have a FH beer as well.
https://fb.watch/fEmEVg8_ea/

 

Saw that this is available for shipping (in CA) on the Green Cheek website, so I ordered a couple four-packs.

ASAP As Possible // Wet Hop’d West Coast IPA w/ Fresh Off The Bine Strata From Our Pals at Indie Hops & Coleman Farms, 7.0% abv
When your pals from @indiehops call you up and tell you that they’re gonna pick some fresh Strata at one of your absolute favorite hop farms ( @colemanagriculture in Oregon) at 4am in the morning, and then throw them on a plane at 8am, and then that you and your pal Ian can pick them up at John Wayne Airport at 11am, you do it! We did, and then had them fresh cones in wort by 130pm that same day. We took some advice from the Fresh Hop King™️ himself, Steve Luke of @cloudburstbrew , and used a whopping 15 POUNDS PER BBL on the hot side. The smell of the brewery was insane! We made this one as a SMASH beer using only Gambrinus Pils and Strata to allow the hop expression to be the only thing that matters. After fermentation, we sprinkled in 2 lbs per bbl of Strata pellets from the same farm, for a total of 17 lb per bbl of hops (which is the most we’ve ever used in any beer, ever). This beer hits with an intense lychee candy and peach tea profile, while whiffs of nori, marmalade and raspberry sneak through, and fill out the complexity further. Canned on 9/15

 

Yes. It’s good.

 

Grabbed a can of FH Ripe by Great Notion. Really really well done. Nose is amazing and the FH flavor is all there.

also tried a Stay Fresh IPA from Baerlic. didnt like this one so much. something was off

also had a 2nd go 'round with the Stormbreaker FH belgian IPA. Even better than the first time. i like this one a lot

 

For the CO folks: https://www.westword.com/restaurants/joyride-fresh-hop-fest-2022-15008995

You can get your fix from most of the major players under one roof.

 

Pinthouse is nice—but if you are looking for something outside of fresh hop season, I think you’ll appreciate what they’re doing at Live Oak.

 

That's an excellent idea.

@John_M , if you get the chance to check out Live Oak, I'd love to hear your opinion on how their lagers compare to some of our local favorites (Chuckanut, pFriem, Heater Allen, Occidental, etc.).

Think of it as an opportunity for interstate SCIENCE.

 

I know you asked for @John_M 's opinion, but my unsolicited $0.02 is Live Oak easily holds their own with that bunch. They're my first stop in ATX, as like previous trips, to hang with friends.

 

So both Ferment and Ft George canned their FH Chinook beers the same day so I had to do SCIENCE! It wasn't close, the Rock, Paper, Chinook was just excellent with lovely and focused FH character. The Ferment was a little more muddled.

I ended with a Pert Near, my first. This beer seriously grew on me, with just a lovely FH flavor. I was initially disappointed by the sweeter malt base, but it really worked.