Fresh Hop Guide - Hood River

Don't you love the smell of fresh hops in the autumn?

Tomorrow is the Hood River edition of three roaming fresh hop festivals. It's the oldest, at six years, and possibly the most spacious. It will be a great opportunity to sample fresh hop ales and further refine your sense of what makes a good wet hop. Below is the official list of the beers pouring at the event (there are more, non-wet hop beers) and their associated wet hop(s).

Brewery______________Beer (Hop(s) Used)
Amnesia______________Fresh Hoppalata (Liberty)
Astoria______________Hoptimus 2.0″ (Cascade, Simcoe)
Big Horse____________Vernon the Rabbit Slayer (Simcoe)
Big Horse____________The Strange Hemp Ale (Experimental)
Bridgeport___________Hop Harvest Ale (Chinook)
Cascade Lakes________Fresh Hop Pale Ale (Santiam)
Deschutes____________Fresh Hop Mirror Pond (Cascade)
Double Mountain______Killer Green IPA (Brewer’s Gold)
Double Mountain______Fresh Vienna (Mt Hood)
Ft George____________Cohoperative Ale (Multi-hop)
Full Sail____________Lupulin Ale (Crystal)
Full Sail____________Lupulin Ale (Cascade)
Hopworks_____________Sodbuster Pale Ale (Crystal)
Laurelwood___________Hop Bale Pale Ale (Amarillo)
Laurelwood___________Organic Goodness Pale (Organic Chinook)
Lucky Lab____________The Mutt Ale (Multi-hop)
Lucky Lab____________Das Moot Pilsner (Multi-hop)
MacTarnahan’s________Fresh Hop MacTarnahans (Cascade)
New Old Lompoc_______Harvest Man Red Ale (Crystal)
New Old Lompoc_______Fresh Hop Crystal Wheat (Crystal)
Ninkasi______________Nugg E. Fresh (Nugget)
Oakshire_____________Fresh Hop Harvest Ale (Chinook)
Pelican______________Elemental Ale (Sterling)
Rock Bottom__________Hoodwinked (Mt. Hood)
Rock Bottom__________Octoberfist (Hallertauer)
Rogue Ales___________Chatoe Rogue (Revolution)
Sierra Nevada________Harvest Ale (Cascade, Centennial)
Three Creeks_________Santiam Harvest Farmhouse Ale (Santiam)
Upright______________Fresh Hop of Bel Air (Liberty)
Walking Man__________Fresh Hop IPA (Unknown)
Widmer Brothers______Hopturnal Emission (Summit)

As a bonus, I've put together descriptions of the hops that will be used in the Hood River beers. They describe the hops as we know of them in normal use. But, as I've tried to document, how a hop behaves once it's dried is no indicator of what it will do wet. Brewers are starting to get a handle on this, and you can see that a certain group of hops have emerged as favorites. Looking through the list, you see lots of Cascade and Crystal.



I'd like to draw your attention especially to Laurelwood's Hop Bale Pale, which was brewed with wet Amarillo. Those of you with long memories will recall Full Sail's transcendent 2007 Lupulin, made with Amarillo. This is the first beer since that one I've seen with that hop (a proprietary, hard-to-get hop). Also note that there are no Willamette or Perle--hops we've seen in previous years.

Stay tuned, I got more fresh hop goodness on the way.