All the Fresh Hop News That's Fit to Print

It is that time of year again, when the hops of the valley are plucked at the peak of ripeness and thrown into kettles and conditioning tanks all over the Northwest. Like blooming flowers, however, these beers appear in their glory for only days at a time. You need to drink 'em when they go on tap, or miss them forever. In past years, I've tried to keep track of which breweries were making fresh hop beers, and with which hops. But since I'm terrible with details, it was always half-assed at best.

Fortunately, Ryan Sharp has stepped into the breach and now keeps an updated Google document to track these things. Even better, he's created a form for breweries to use to add their info to the document. Those links:

• Full, updated list of Northwest fresh hop beers
• Form for breweries to add beer info

There are a number of fresh hop events to take note of as the month unfolds, as well:

• The annual Lucky Lab hop-plucking event happens next Tuesday (Sept 6) at the back patio of the Hawthorne location. If you have hop bines you don't know what to do with, drop them off at the Lab in the afternoon. Then, sometime that afternoon (in classic form, the press release did not have a time), stop by and pluck those hops. You'll be offered free beer and wings, and the fruit of your labor will go into the Lab's annual fresh hop beer, "The Mutt."
• From Sept 20-24, there will be an ongoing pop-up fresh hops fest in the parking lot of Burnside Brewing. Each day features a different brewery.
• The Hood River Hops Fest will happen Saturday, September 24 in downtown Hood River. It's one of the best events of the year.
• The annual Portland Fresh Hop Fest will happen a week later (Sept 30 - Oct 1) at Oaks Bottom Amusement Park. There are other fests around the state--follow the link for more info.

And of course, pubs and breweries are about to be inundated with fresh hop beers for the next month or so. So get your palate running--the best season of the year is just around the corner.

All the Fresh Hops

I have fallen down on the job.  In past years, as the air grows chill and the leaves turn to fire, I begin busily blogging about fresh hop beers.  It is one of the most extraordinary cul-de-sacs in the beer world, mostly unknown except to those who live in the right neighborhood.  For a few short weeks, brewers are able to use just-picked, undried hops straight from the vine.  They travel no more than a couple of hours from Oregon's Willamette Valley and arrive at breweries fresh and full of life.  The beers they make can be spectacular, singular things found nowhere else in the world.  Like the life seeping moment by moment from the cones (strobiles, if you're being pedantic), so it seeps moment by moment from the beers after they're made with these hops.  After a week, they begin to lose their edge, and within a month they're dull and lifeless.  You must get them while you can--and right now is the moment.

Tonight and tomorrow, you can find a few dozen pouring at the Fresh Hop fest in Southeast Portland.  If you've found, like I have, that the season has gotten away from you, it's a great chance to indulge. 

Photo: Silver Moon

On the off chance you haven't been reading this blog for the past several years but are hungering for information about fresh hopped ber, here's a roundup of some of the key posts from past years.  (Even if you've read them, some make a decent refresher--even for me!) (It occurs to me now that I should have titled this post Seven Things You Need to Know About Fresh Hops, in the manner of the day.  But I am old and so you're spared all that.)

• An introduction to fresh hop beers and why you should care about them. 

• Two posts about the making of fresh hop beers.  In the first, we hear from a survey of brewers who use different practices.  In the second, Double Mountain's Matt Swihart guest posts on his process.

• A hops reference guide, Aurora to Willamette.  It covers what we know about kilned hops, which is not entirely the same as what we know about fresh hops.

• On the chemistry of a wet hop. 

• The Satori-award winning Full Sail Lupulin from way back in 2007 (illustrating that fresh hops can no longer be considered a particularly fresh phenomenon).

• A great piece by Oregonian Lucy Burningham that appeared in the New York Times.

• And finally, advice to the Oregon Brewer's Guild about promoting fresh hops. There's always next year!

Happy hunting--

Advice to the Brewers Guild and Oregon Brewers

It is time to take down my list of 2013's fresh hop beers, shelve my memories of the piquant flavor of Solera's Chubby Bunny, and look forward to the season of darker, stronger potions.  But not until I throw out one last fresh hop post: a request to the Oregon Brewers Guild and Oregon Brewers to spend the next few months preparing for the 2014 fresh hop season.  It is not only one of the most interesting times of the beer calendar, but also the most under-utilized. 

How could Oregon utilize fresh hop season?  We don't have to run a thought experiment but instead turn our attention to Beaujolais in France. 

At one past midnight on the third Thursday of each November, from little villages and towns like Romanèche-Thorins, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau begin their journey through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world. Banners proclaim the good news: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé! "The New Beaujolais has arrived!"

There are a lot of ways in which the analogy is inapt: Beaujolais Nouveau is an inferior product released early because keeping won't do it any good.  ("Its charm is its innocent, not-quite-wine character," says Karen MacNeil in the Wine Bible.)  But fresh-hop beers, made well, are rare and exceptional--you could say almost the reverse, that they are the pure, innate essence of beer.  The wine can be bottled and sent around the world, but to truly get the experience of a fresh hop beer, you need to have it within days of its release. 

All of which means that to enjoy a fresh hop season, you have to go to the hops.  There are only two states in the US equipped to handle large-scale commercial production, and they join just a slight few others across the globe (England, Bavaria, Bohemia, New Zealand).  I encourage Oregon brewers to think a lot bigger and harness the moment to focus attention on what we do here.  How?  Here are a few suggestions:

• Start promoting it.  This is a huge opportunity.  One of the big problems in promoting Oregon breweries is that most of them don't distribute very far; they don't need to, since Oregonians happily lap up all the beer they can produce.  But it means people elsewhere have a dim sense of the beers we brew.  Making fresh hop season a destination akin to (if not on the scale of) Munich Oktoberfest and Beaujolais Nouveau season gives people a reason to come to Oregon--and a reason only one other state can match.  
• Collect accurate, up-to-date information.  I tried my best to keep track of the fresh hop releases, but come on, I'm a detail-challenged blogger.  The Guild should set up a special website that has release dates of all the fresh hop beers and their details. 
• I'm an "ambassador" for Travel Oregon and regularly get questions from visitors coming to Portland, the Coast, or Bend.  For those heading to Bend, the answer is a snap: go download the Bend Ale Trail app.  There should be a fresh hop app, too.  The app would incorporate information about which beers were pouring, which hops they used, and which pubs and breweries you could find them at. And since you're collecting info for the website, it's a snap to keep the app up-to-date.
• Bring the hop farms in on the action.  The brewers in Oregon have established great relationships with hop farmers in the Valley.  We know the names of Gail Goschie, John Annen, Doug Weathers and others because breweries visit their farms at harvest.  Highlight the terroir of the hops in the beer by identifying the hop farms and their hops.
• Tasting event focal-points.  The heart of the summer beer season is the OBF, the sun around which all the other events orbit.  I'm not sure that there needs to be a similar huge fest for fresh hop beers, but there need to be more opportunities to enjoy these as a group.  Fresh hop farmers markets?  A fest in a hop field in the Willamette Valley?  Fresh hop feasts?  One day in Hood River and a short evening and afternoon in Portland just isn't enough.
• Finally, bring journalists to Oregon to cover the event. You gotta get the word out.

This is one of the most interesting things happening in beer anywhere.  Beer people who are constantly on the lookout for new things would have a ball spending a long weekend in Portland in late September. It's the kind of spectacle that supports all the brewers, irrespective of size or fame.  It not only helps strengthen the Oregon brand, but could create and define it.  (And creating a brand out of a collection of breweries connected only by location is no easy feat.)  Finally, fresh hop season brings people into a state whose beers they may have heard a fuss about but never had a chance to really experience. But with a little organization and effort, it could bring an order of magnitude more people here, with attendant benefits for everyone from brewers and publicans to hop growers and hoteliers.  The moment, like fresh hops themselves, is ripe for the picking.  Don't miss another year's opportunity.

You Know a Fresh Hop Beer by Its Taste

Let us consider the fresh hop beer.  A seemingly simple beast, it is made from the addition of undried hops rushed sun-warm from field to kettle (or tank).  In recent years this simplicity has been obscured by off-topic etymological and existential discussions about what "fresh" really means.  It has come to mirror--or rhyme with--the debates about gluten and organics, as if the best way to ascertain the true nature of a fresh-hop beer is to check your conscience.  Can it be a fresh hop beer if some dried hops are used?  Can it be a fresh hop beer if none are used?  These inquiries lead in the wrong direction, to ethics, and away from the thing that is so blindingly obvious.  The "fresh" in the fresh hop comes from the living plant and anyone who has tasted that life in a beer appreciates it through the proper instrument, her senses.

This is not rocket science.  What we should be looking for in a fresh hop beer are those very obvious flavors and aromas that ooze out of the [pick one: fresh, wet, unkilned, undried] hop.  We know a fresh hop beer not by querying the brewer about his methods, but by tasting it.  I recognize that a lot of people in the world haven't had the chance to try these beers, so Pacific Northwesterners must act as envoys to tell of these wondrous creatures from afar.  The first lesson is: they're about as easy to distinguish from normal beers as a porter is from a pale.  If you're sniffing and swishing and cocking your head trying to figure out if the beer was made with fresh hops, it's not a good example no matter how it was made.  If you're getting lively, feral, sometimes unsettling flavors, that's a fresh hop beer.

I am all for truth in labeling, and I endorse Bill Night's long crusade to expose breweries who call their beer "fresh hop" when they're nothing of the kind.  But it obscures the far more relevant and important inquiry into the joys and wonders (and mishaps and disasters) that are to be found in those that are manifestly fresh hop beers.  They are their own thing, and their thing is obvious.  We should go forth and discover.  (I've already written about my discoveries.  A lot.)

Hood River Hops Fest
Saturday, September 28, noon-9pm
Between 5th & 7th Streets and Cascade and Columbia Streets
Kids okay until 5pm
$10 for a mug and 4 tickets, additional tix $1
Full list of beers here

One way you can make your own discovery is by heading out to Hood River on Saturday for the annual festival of fresh hops (called, slightly misleadingly, Hops Fest).  There are other, smaller fresh hop fests around, but if you want to get a serious immersive experience (and you should!), Hood River is the place to go.  They have a large selection and equally as important, a large enough supply so that the kegs won't blow at 2 pm.  It is a fantastic way to spend a fall afternoon, and after about three tasters, you'll begin to full appreciate why the nature of "fresh hopping" isn't a dry philosophical inquiry but rather a immediately sensuous one. 

Dog Days

It's a good fest that has this view:

That's the Portland edition of the Fresh Hops Fest, looking out over the river from Oaks Park.  They had 50% more people than last year by 5pm, and by six there were just a handful of beers left.  I got to try very few and went immediately to full pours and yet, despite this unfortunate state of affairs, had a grand time.  Here's another one.

Hop Varieties Cheat Sheet

Fresh hop season is upon us again, and sadly, the good folks in Hood River have scheduled the premier festival this Sunday--when I'll be returning from the GABF. But in the very likely case you won't be in Denver, you should shoot down the Gorge. (Full details here.)

As a public service, I'm reprinting my hops varieties chart for you to consult during the Fest. No real research has been done into the flavor and aroma these hops contribute when wet, or how their constituents (oils and acids) vary when wet ... or really much of anything. But we can at least compare the wet versions to the dry versions, and so here are the details on standard hops.

Amarillo

• History. Amarillo was discovered growing on Virgil Gamache Farms as a wild hop cross.
• Flavor/Aroma. Described as a “Super Cascade” with pronounced citrus (orange) and tropical fruit character. High in beta acids and a good aroma hop. (alpha acid: 8-11% / beta acid: 6-7%. Total oils 1.5-1.9 ml.)

Bravo

• History. A super-high alpha hop with principally Zeus and Nugget parentage released by SS Steiner in 2006.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Not much available on this new hop, which is described in generic terms as "fruity" and "floral." (alpha acid: 14-17%% / beta acid: 3-5%. Total oils 1.6 - 2.4 ml.)

Brewer’s Gold

• History. A British bittering hop developed in 1919. Both Brewer's Gold and Bullion are seedlings found wild in Manitoba. It's an English/wild Canadian cross. Many modern high alpha hops were developed from Brewer's Gold.
• Flavor/Aroma. It has a resiny, spicy aroma/flavor with hints of black currant and a pungent English character. (alpha acid: 8-10% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%. Total oils 1.6-1.9 ml.)

Cascade

• History. The first commercial hop from the USDA-ARS breeding program, it was bred in 1956 but not released for cultivation until 1972. It was obtained by crossing an English Fuggle with a male plant, which originated from the Russian variety Serebrianka with a Fuggle male plant.
• Flavor/Aroma. The most-used Northwest hop, with a lovely mild citrus and floral quality. (alpha acid: 4.5-7% / beta acid: 4.5-7%. Total oils 0.6-0.9 ml.)

Centennial

• History. Centennial is an aroma-type cultivar, bred in 1974 and released in 1990. The genetic composition is 3/4 Brewers Gold, 3/32 Fuggle, 1/16 East Kent Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 1/16 unknown. Akin to a high-alpha Cascade.
• Flavor/Aroma. One of the classic "C" hops, along with Cascade, Chinook, and Columbus. Character is not as citrusy and fruity as Cascade; considered to have medium intensity. Some even use it for aroma as well as bittering. Clean Bitterness with floral notes. (alpha acid: 9.5-11.5% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%. Total oils 1.5-2.5 ml.)

Citra

• History. Another of the recent proprietary strains, Citra is a relatively high-alpha dual-use hop that can be used either for bittering or aroma. Purported parentage includes Hallertauer, American Tettnanger, and East Kent Goldings.
• Flavor/Aroma. Lots of American citrus character, but tending toward tropical fruit. (alpha acid: 11 - 13% / beta acid: 3.5 - 4.5%. Total oils 2.2-2.8 ml.)

Chinook

• History. Chinook hops were developed in the early 1980s in Washington state by the USDA as a variant of the Goldings Hop.
• Flavor/Aroma. An herbal, smoky/earthy character. (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 3-4%. Total oils 0.7-1.2 ml.)

Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus ("CTZ")

• History. The breeding nursery from which these varieties were bred contained 20-30 female plants from which seeds were gathered. Exact parentage is unknown.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Hops have a very distinctive skunky/marijuana flavor and a sticky, resinous flavor. (alpha acid: 14.5 - 16.5% / beta acid: 4-5%. Total oils 2-3 ml.)

Crystal

• History. Crystal was released 1993, developed in Corvallis a decade earlier. Crystal is a half-sister of Mt. Hood and Liberty.
• Flavor/Aroma. A spicy, sharp, clean flavor. It is not complex like Cascade but offers a clear note when used with other hops. (alpha acid: 4-6% / beta acid: 5-6.7%. Total oils 0.8-2.1 ml.)

First Gold

• History. A dwarf hop developed in England derived from a dwarf male and a Whitbread Golding variety.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Similar to Goldings--spicy and earthy. (alpha acid: 6.5-8.5% / beta acid: 3-4%. Total oils, 0.7-1.5 ml)

Hallertauer

• History. Traditional German hop from Hallertau region. One of the classic “noble hops” originating in Germany’s most famous hop-growing region. Many cultivars.
• Flavor/Aroma. Pleasant herbal character with an excellent bittering and flavoring profile. US Hallertau exhibits a mild, slightly flowery and somewhat spicy traditional German hop aroma. (alpha acid: 3.5-5.5% / beta acid: 3.5-5.5%. Total oils 1.5-2.0 ml.)

Liberty

• History. Another cross of the Hallertauer Mittelfrüher, with characteristics similar to those of Mt. Hood, released in the mid-80s around the time of Mt. Hoods' release.
• Flavor/Aroma. Mild and spicy, closely akin to Mt. Hood and Hallertauer. (alpha acid: 3.5-4.5% / beta acid: 3-3.5%. Total oils 1.0-1.8 ml.)

Mt. Hood

• History. An Oregon State University product, Mt Hood was developed in 1985. It is a half-sister to Ultra, Liberty and Crystal. Mt. Hood is an aromatic variety with marked similarities to the German Hallertauer and Hersbrucker varieties.
• Flavor/Aroma. It has a refined, mild, pleasant and clean, somewhat pungent resiny/spicy aroma and provides clean bittering. A good choice for lagers. (alpha acid: 4-6% / beta acid: 5-7.5%. Total oils 1.0-1.3 ml.)

Mt. Rainier

• History. Also an Oregon State University product, Mt Rainiers were bred from a variety of plants, including Galena, Hallertauer, Golden Cluster, Fuggles, and Landhopen (?). It was released commercially in 2008 or '09.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. An interesting hop that contributes a minty or anise note. (alpha acid: 7 -9.5% / beta acid: around 7%. Total oils- NA.)

Nugget

• History. Nugget is a bittering-type cultivar, bred in 1970 from the USDA 65009 female plant and USDA 63015M. The lineage of Nugget is 5/8 Brewers Gold, 1/8 Early Green, 1/16 Canterbury Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 5/32 unknown.
• Flavor/Aroma. A sharply bitter hop with a pungent, heavy herbal aroma.. (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 4-6%. Total oils 1.7-2.3 ml.)

Perle

• History. Bred in Germany in 1978 from English Northern Brewer stock.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Combines qualities of spicy English hops and rich, floral German hops. Excellent, clean bittering and aroma. (alpha acid: 6-8% / beta acid: 3 - 4%. Total oils 1 - 1.5 ml.)

Santiam

• History. A triploid hop resulting from a cross between 1/3 German Tettnanger, 1/3 Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, and an American hop (possibly Cascade). The first seedless Tettnang-type hop. An OSU hop released in 1998.
• Flavor/Aroma. Noble hop character, herbal, floral, but with a little American character. (alpha acid: 5.5-7% / beta acid: 7-8.5%. Total oils 1.3 - 1.7 ml.)

Simcoe

• History. A propriety strain bred by Yakima Chief.
• Flavor/Aroma. Simcoe is best characterized as having a pronounced pine or woody aroma. The cultivar was bred by Yakima Chief in the USA. It is sometimes described as being “like Cascade, but more bitter - and with pine.” (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 4-5%. To2.0-2.5tal oils ml.)

Sterling

• History. Sterling is an aroma cultivar, made in 1990 with parentage of 1/2 Saaz, 1/4 Cascade, 1/8 unknown German aroma hop, 1/16 Brewers Gold, 1/32 Early Green, and 1/32 unknown.
• Flavor/Aroma. Similar to Saaz in aroma and flavor. Aromas are fine, rustic, earthy, and spicy. Used in this year’s Full Sail LTD 03. (alpha acid: 4.5-5% / beta acid: 5-6%. Total oils 0.6-1.0 ml.)

Summit

• History. Summit is a recently-released super-high-alpha hop variety. It is a dwarf variety grown on a low trellis system. Because the low trellis is not machine harvestable, these hops are picked by hand in the field.
• Flavor/Aroma. Strongly pronounced orange/ tangerine aroma and flavor. A favorite hop of Rob Widmer and used in recent releases (W ’07, Drifter). (alpha acid: 17-19% / beta acid: 4% - 6%. Total oils 1.5 - 2.5 ml.)

Willamette

• History. An older US-bred hop with Fuggles parentage.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. A classic earthy/spicy hop with great versatility. (alpha acid: 4-6% / beta acid: 3.5% - 4.5%. Total oils 1 - 1.5 ml.)

_____________
Information assembled from the following sources: Beer Advocate, Brew 365, Hopsteiner, Yakima Chief, Winning Homebrew , Global Hops

Oregon's Fresh Hop Beers

Following up on yesterday's surprisingly popular description of hop varieties, I will localize thing for the variety of fresh hop beers available this year in Oregon. The Brewers Guild has released a full list of 58 different beers from 36 breweries (that's counting the 16 Thundercones from sixteen different McMenamins, as one beer).

Not all fresh hops are created equally. Some really sing when their fresh, and some ... don't. Every year, this is reflected in greater reliance on just a few types of hops. Over half the beers employ just four varieties: Cascade, Centennial, Crystal, and Nuggets. (The preponderance is shifted massively if you include the 16 McMenamins, which used Cascades.) This reconciles with my own experience--these hops have been used reliably in a number of fan faves over the past few years. Last year, I thought Chinooks acquitted themselves nicely, too--but only two beers use them in 2010.

In any case, below is a list of beers divided by hop type, and just to be comprehensive, I'll include the hop description from yesterday's post. A bit redundant, I'll admit, but I didn't have the list of beers when I posted yesterday--and I'll put it beneath a "jump" so you don't have to see the same long list. Consider it a "clip 'n save" opportunity.

Bravo
Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout.

• History. A super-high alpha hop with principally Zeus and Nugget parentage released by SS Steiner in 2006.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Not much available on this new hop, which is described in generic terms as "fruity" and "floral." (alpha acid: 14-17%% / beta acid: 3-5%. Total oils 1.6 - 2.4 ml.)

Click to expand and continue reading...

Brewers Gold
Double Mountain Killer Green

• History. A British bittering hop developed in 1919. Both Brewer's Gold and Bullion are seedlings found wild in Manitoba. It's an English/wild Canadian cross. Many modern high alpha hops were developed from Brewer's Gold.
• Flavor/Aroma. It has a resiny, spicy aroma/flavor with hints of black currant and a pungent English character. (alpha acid: 8-10% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%. Total oils 1.6-1.9 ml.)

Cascade
Deschutes Fresh Hop Mirror Pond, Hopworks Goldilocks, MacTarnahan's Fresh Hop, Beer Valley Hwy 19 (with Zeus), Silver Moon Hoppapotamus, Astoria Fresh Hop Dark, Natian Alton Organic Fresh (organic hops), Laurelwood Hop Pickin' (organic), Vertigo Special Bitter (with Willamettes)

• History. The first commercial hop from the USDA-ARS breeding program, it was bred in 1956 but not released for cultivation until 1972. It was obtained by crossing an English Fuggle with a male plant, which originated from the Russian variety Serebrianka with a Fuggle male plant.
• Flavor/Aroma. The most-used Northwest hop, with a lovely mild citrus and floral quality. (alpha acid: 4.5-7% / beta acid: 4.5-7%. Total oils 0.6-0.9 ml.)

Centennial
Astoria Pursuit of Hoppiness, BridgePort Hop Harvest, Deschutes King Cone, Full Sail Lupulin, Golden Valley Fresh Hop, Ram Hop Sack, Rock Bottom Hop Harvest, Green Dragon Hop Diddley (with Perle)

• History. Centennial is an aroma-type cultivar, bred in 1974 and released in 1990. The genetic composition is 3/4 Brewers Gold, 3/32 Fuggle, 1/16 East Kent Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 1/16 unknown. Akin to a high-alpha Cascade.
• Flavor/Aroma. One of the classic "C" hops, along with Cascade, Chinook, and Columbus. Character is not as citrusy and fruity as Cascade; considered to have medium intensity. Some even use it for aroma as well as bittering. Clean Bitterness with floral notes. (alpha acid: 9.5-11.5% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%. Total oils 1.5-2.5 ml.)

Chinook
Beer Valley Leafer Madness, Oakshire Locovore Fresh Hop (organic)

• History. Chinook hops were developed in the early 1980s in Washington state by the USDA as a variant of the Goldings Hop.
• Flavor/Aroma. An herbal, smoky/earthy character. (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 3-4%. Total oils 0.7-1.2 ml.)

Crystal
Cascade Fresh Hop Porter, Laurelwood Some Like it Hop, Lompoc: Harvest Man Red, Crystal Missile, Ale Connor Fresh Hop, Ninkasi Total Crystalation, Deschutes Hop Trip, Deschutes Bend Yam-a-Lama, Three Creeks Cone Licker

• History. Crystal was released 1993, developed in Corvallis a decade earlier. Crystal is a half-sister of Mt. Hood and Liberty.
• Flavor/Aroma. A spicy, sharp, clean flavor. It is not complex like Cascade but offers a clear note when used with other hops. (alpha acid: 4-6% / beta acid: 5-6.7%. Total oils 0.8-2.1 ml.)

First Gold
Full Sail Lupulin

• History. A dwarf hop developed in England derived from a dwarf male and a Whitbread Golding variety.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Similar to Goldings--spicy and earthy. (alpha acid: 6.5-8.5% / beta acid: 3-4%. Total oils, 0.7-1.5 ml)

Goldings
Three Creeks Fresh 'n Bad Badlands

• History. A centuries-old British variety transplanted to the US in 1993.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Contains more of the tangy American character and less of the sharp, spicy English character. A versatile hop. (alpha acid: 4-5% / beta acid: 2-3%. Total oils, 0.5 - 1.0 ml)

Hallertauer
Oakshire Wet Hop Harvest

• History. Traditional German hop from Hallertau region. One of the classic “noble hops” originating in Germany’s most famous hop-growing region. Many cultivars.
• Flavor/Aroma. Pleasant herbal character with an excellent bittering and flavoring profile. US Hallertau exhibits a mild, slightly flowery and somewhat spicy traditional German hop aroma. (alpha acid: 3.5-5.5% / beta acid: 3.5-5.5%. Total oils 1.5-2.0 ml.)

Liberty
Amnesia Mother Plucker, Eugene City Wet Hop

• History. Another cross of the Hallertauer Mittelfrüher, with characteristics similar to those of Mt. Hood, released in the mid-80s around the time of Mt. Hoods' release.
• Flavor/Aroma. Mild and spicy, closely akin to Mt. Hood and Hallertauer. (alpha acid: 3.5-4.5% / beta acid: 3-3.5%. Total oils 1.0-1.8 ml.)

Mt. Rainier
Full Sail Hopfenfrisch

• History. Also an Oregon State University product, Mt Rainiers were bred from a variety of plants, including Galena, Hallertauer, Golden Cluster, Fuggles, and Landhopen (?). It was released commercially in 2008 or '09.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. An interesting hop that contributes a minty or anise note. (alpha acid: 7 -9.5% / beta acid: around 7%. Total oils- NA.)

Nugget
Cascade Rye Pale, Deschutes-Bend Wingnut, Upright: Tyler the Elder, Jonathan the Younger, Widmer Black Nugget

• History. Nugget is a bittering-type cultivar, bred in 1970 from the USDA 65009 female plant and USDA 63015M. The lineage of Nugget is 5/8 Brewers Gold, 1/8 Early Green, 1/16 Canterbury Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 5/32 unknown.
• Flavor/Aroma. A sharply bitter hop with a pungent, heavy herbal aroma.. (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 4-6%. Total oils 1.7-2.3 ml.)

Palisade
Oregon Trail Hop Doctor

• History. A proprietary strain bred by Yakima Chief. Possible Tettnanger and wild parentage.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. A gently floral, slightly grassy hop with apricot notes. Its subtlety has kept it obscure. (alpha acid: 5.5-9.5% / beta acid: 6-8%. Total oils, 1.4 - 1.6 ml)

Perle
Deschutes-Bend Fresh Hop Lager, Green Dragon Hop Didley (with Centennial) Ninkasi Parlay

• History. Bred in Germany in 1978 from English Northern Brewer stock.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. Combines qualities of spicy English hops and rich, floral German hops. Excellent, clean bittering and aroma. (alpha acid: 6-8% / beta acid: 3 - 4%. Total oils 1 - 1.5 ml.)

Santiam
Cascade Lakes Harvest Fresh

• History. A triploid hop resulting from a cross between 1/3 German Tettnanger, 1/3 Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, and an American hop (possibly Cascade). The first seedless Tettnang-type hop. An OSU hop released in 1998.
• Flavor/Aroma. Noble hop character, herbal, floral, but with a little American character. (alpha acid: 5.5-7% / beta acid: 7-8.5%. Total oils 1.3 - 1.7 ml.)

Simcoe
Big Horse Vernon the Rabbit Slayer, McMenamins on Monroe Thundercone

• History. A propriety strain bred by Yakima Chief.
• Flavor/Aroma. Simcoe is best characterized as having a pronounced pine or woody aroma. The cultivar was bred by Yakima Chief in the USA. It is sometimes described as being “like Cascade, but more bitter - and with pine.” (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 4-5%. To2.0-2.5tal oils ml.)

Sterling
Pelican Elemental Ale

• History. Sterling is an aroma cultivar, made in 1990 with parentage of 1/2 Saaz, 1/4 Cascade, 1/8 unknown German aroma hop, 1/16 Brewers Gold, 1/32 Early Green, and 1/32 unknown.
• Flavor/Aroma. Similar to Saaz in aroma and flavor. Aromas are fine, rustic, earthy, and spicy. Used in this year’s Full Sail LTD 03. (alpha acid: 4.5-5% / beta acid: 5-6%. Total oils 0.6-1.0 ml.)

Summit
Fort George Hopstoria

• History. Summit is a recently-released super-high-alpha hop variety. It is a dwarf variety grown on a low trellis system. Because the low trellis is not machine harvestable, these hops are picked by hand in the field.
• Flavor/Aroma. Strongly pronounced orange/ tangerine aroma and flavor. A favorite hop of Rob Widmer and used in recent releases (W ’07, Drifter). (alpha acid: 17-19% / beta acid: 4% - 6%. Total oils 1.5 - 2.5 ml.)

Willamette
Hopworks Fest of Fury, Philadelphia's Sellwood Golden, Vertigo Special Bitter

• History. An older US-bred hop with Fuggles parentage.
  
• Flavor/Aroma. A classic earthy/spicy hop with great versatility. (alpha acid: 4-6% / beta acid: 3.5% - 4.5%. Total oils 1 - 1.5 ml.)

Notes on the Fresh Hop Fest

I am slow at getting to my notes from the fest, but at long last, here they are. They're slightly idiosyncratic: I was so focused on the hops that I didn't take notes on the whole presentation of each beer. Essentially, I had six or seven very tasty beers, a couple head-turners (good) and one misfire. Except for the misfire, all were interesting and good (all B's or better on the patented rating scale). Instead, I took notes on the hops. And not, it turned out, very expansive notes. Still, here goes.

• Liberty (Upright Fresh Hop of Bel Air). Surprisingly sharp hopping. The saison style can tolerate a little bitterness, and it worked well here. A fairly clean bitter note without a lot of ornamentation--sort of like dried Crystal hops.

• Amarillo (Laurelwood Hop Bale Pale). One of the two best beers I tried. The Amarillo had much of the quality as the '07 Amarillo Lupulin--tropical fruit notes, lush and exotic. Shiny, citrusy, radiant. A bit more bitter than I recall Full Sail's being, but this was nice, too.
  

• Santiam (Cascade Lakes Harvest). A sweet hop--a honey note and also a grassy quality.

• Brewer's Gold (Double Mountain Killer Green). Fresh hop beers are generally soft and herbal--not this one. It lived up to its name with an aggressively bitter character. Sharp, clear, slightly tangy. (Worth noting that the DM boys threw in a few other hops--Simcoe, Warrior, Summit--to round the character out. Cheating? Your call.)

• Hallertauer (Rock Bottom Octoberfist). The misfire. It both smelled and tasted "meaty," like the beer had been made with beef bullion. It tended just a bit to sour, and Sally described the note as "sauerbraten." I've noticed that fresh hopped lagers rarely work, so I don't know if that's at issue here, but it was decidedly not a good hop note.

• Nugget (Ninkasi Nugg E Fresh). A surprisingly lightly-hopped beer from Ninkasi (intentional?). It was soft, gentle, and herbal. The hop showed lots of promise, but I'd like to see a few more the next time.

• Chinook (Walking Man Hopalong IPA). The other contender for tastiest hop. Dried Chinooks are impressive--gritty, sharp, peppery, and sometimes grinding in their bitterness. Wet, they were also sharp, but the sharp edges were gone. They were fuller and greener. Of all the hops, it seemed the most saturated with green hoppiness.
  

• Summit (Widmer Hopturnal Emission). The Summits were fruity and sweet, a bit like Juicy Fruit gum, with very little of their strongly characteristic orange/tangerine note.

After these, I tried the Rock Bottom Hoodwinked with Mt Hoods and the Big Horse Vernon the Rabbit Slayer with Simcoe. They were both fine, but I failed to take notes.

To reiterate one point, it's worth noting that every beer I tried (save Octoberfist) had very clear, clean hop notes. In past years, the hops often expressed a muddy lack of clarity. This year they were distinct presences. If you missed the Hood River edition, you have two more chances:

Portland, 10/10/2009
Oaks Park Amusement Park
7805 SE Oaks Park Way

and

Eugene, 10/17/2009
948 Olive St.

Go forth and taste!

Hops Fest Pictures

It's not a beer fest if there aren't any pics.

The day started sunnily enough.

But then came the rain.



Forcing the people to crowd under tents.

Requisite taps pic.

Gratuitous, requisite taps pic.

Snazzy fest pantaloons.

Off to Hood River

I may be live tweeting from the Fresh Hop Fest. Or maybe updating this post. Or maybe just drinking beer. It's 48 out right now, the silvery undersides of clouds buffering us from the sun's harsh rays. Looks to be perfect Oregon weather.

Cheers--

Fresh Hop Varieties -at the Hood River Fest

Below I linked the list of beers that will be pouring in Hood River at the Fresh Hop Festival tomorrow. All will be using one of the following hop types--I've collected this info together so you can compare and contrast with how the hops behave in their fresh variants. (This information is contained on the printable pdf available from the earlier post.)

Amarillo

• History. Amarillo was discovered growing on Virgil Gamache Farms—a wild hop mutation now owned by Yakima Chief.
• Flavor/Aroma. Described as a “Super Cascade” with pronounced citrus (orange) and tropical fruit character. High in beta acids and a good aroma hop. (alpha acid: 8-11% / beta acid: 6-7%)

Brewer’s Gold

• History. A British bittering hop developed in 1919. Both Brewer's Gold and Bullion are seedlings found wild in Manitoba. It's an English/wild Canadian cross. Many modern high alpha hops were developed from Brewer's Gold.
• Flavor/Aroma. It has a resiny, spicy aroma/flavor with hints of black currant and a pungent English character. (alpha acid: 8-10% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%)

Cascade

• History. The first commercial hop from the USDA-ARS breeding program, it was bred in 1956 but not released for cultivation until 1972. It was obtained by crossing an English Fuggle with a male plant, which originated from the Russian variety Serebrianka with a Fuggle male plant.
• Flavor/Aroma. The most-used Northwest hop, with a lovely mild citrus and floral quality. (alpha acid: 4.5-7% / beta acid: 4.5-7%)

Centennial

• History. Centennial is an aroma-type cultivar, bred in 1974 and released in 1990. The genetic composition is 3/4 Brewers Gold, 3/32 Fuggle, 1/16 East Kent Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 1/16 unknown. Akin to a high-alpha Cascade.
• Flavor/Aroma. One of the classic "C" hops, along with Cascade, Chinook, and Columbus. Character is not as citrusy and fruity as Cascade; considered to have medium intensity. Some even use it for aroma as well as bittering. Clean Bitterness with floral notes. (alpha acid: 9.5-11.5% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%)

Chinook

• History. Chinook hops were developed in the early 1980s in Washington state by the USDA as a variant of the Goldings Hop.
• Flavor/Aroma. An herbal, smoky/earthy character. (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 3-4%)

Crystal

• History. Crystal was released 1993, developed in Corvallis a decade earlier. Crystal is a half-sister of Mt. Hood and Liberty.
• Flavor/Aroma. A spicy, sharp, clean flavor. It is not complex like Cascade but offers a clear note when used with other hops. (alpha acid: 4-6% / beta acid: 5-6.7%)

Hallertauer

• History. Traditional German hop from Hallertau region. One of the classic “noble hops” originating in Germany’s most famous hop-growing region. Many cultivars.
• Flavor/Aroma. Pleasant herbal character with an excellent bittering and flavoring profile. US Hallertau exhibits a mild, slightly flowery and somewhat spicy traditional German hop aroma. (alpha acid: 3.5-5.5% / beta acid: 3.5-5.5%)

Liberty

• History. Another cross of the Hallertauer Mittelfrüher, with characteristics similar to those of Mt. Hood, released in the mid-80s around the time of Mt. Hoods' release.
• Flavor/Aroma. Mild and spicy, closely akin to Mt. Hood and Hallertauer. (alpha acid: 3.5-4.5% / beta acid: 3-3.5%)

Mt. Hood

• History. An Oregon State University product, Mt Hood was developed in 1985. It is a half-sister to Ultra, Liberty and Crystal. Mt. Hood is an aromatic variety with marked similarities to the German Hallertauer and Hersbrucker varieties.
• Flavor/Aroma. It has a refined, mild, pleasant and clean, somewhat pungent resiny/spicy aroma and provides clean bittering. A good choice for lagers. (alpha acid: 4-6% / beta acid: 5-7.5%)

Nugget

• History. Nugget is a bittering-type cultivar, bred in 1970 from the USDA 65009 female plant and USDA 63015M. The lineage of Nugget is 5/8 Brewers Gold, 1/8 Early Green, 1/16 Canterbury Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 5/32 unknown.
• Flavor/Aroma. A sharply bitter hop with a pungent, heavy herbal aroma.. (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 4-6%)

Santiam

• History. A triploid hop resulting from a cross between 1/3 German Tettnanger, 1/3 Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, and an American hop (possibly Cascade). The first seedless Tettnang-type hop. An OSU hop released in 1998.
• Flavor/Aroma. Noble hop character, herbal, floral, but with a little American character. (alpha acid: 5.5-7% / beta acid: 7-8.5%)

Simcoe

• History. A propriety strain bred by Yakima Chief.
• Flavor/Aroma. Simcoe is best characterized as having a pronounced pine or woodsy aroma. The cultivar was bred by Yakima Chief in the USA. It is sometimes described as being “like Cascade, but more bitter - and with pine.” (alpha acid: 12-14% / beta acid: 4-5%)

Sterling

• History. Sterling is an aroma cultivar, made in 1990 with parentage of 1/2 Saaz, 1/4 Cascade, 1/8 unknown German aroma hop, 1/16 Brewers Gold, 1/32 Early Green, and 1/32 unknown.
• Flavor/Aroma. Similar to Saaz in aroma and flavor. Aromas are fine, rustic, earthy, and spicy. Used in this year’s Full Sail LTD 03. (alpha acid: 4.5-5% / beta acid: 5-6%)

Summit

• History. Summit is a recently-released super-high-alpha hop variety. It is a dwarf variety grown on a low trellis system. Because the low trellis is not machine harvestable, these hops are picked by hand in the field.
• Flavor/Aroma. Strongly pronounced orange/ tangerine aroma and flavor. A favorite hop of Rob Widmer and used in recent releases (W ’07, Drifter). (alpha acid: 17-19% / beta acid: NA)

_____________
Information assembled from the following sources: Beer Advocate, Brew 365, Hopsteiner, Yakima Chief, Winning Homebrew

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.

Fresh Hop Fest Next Saturday

Next Saturday the Fresh Hop Tastivals kick-off their annual three-peat in Hood River. It's the sixth iteration, and for the first time, I plan to go.*

Sixth Annual Fresh Hop Festival
Saturday, October 3, noon-9pm
Columbia and 5th St, Downtown| map

The beer list hasn't been published yet--and even more frustratingly, the hop list. For the past couple years, I've been trying to document the success of various varieties of hops in their wet form (not all are equally tasty), and this has been hampered somewhat by a small sample size. Well, next week I can turn that on its head. Below are the list of breweries; each is bringing 2 beers, so there will be ample new varieties to sample. If I can score a list of the beers and the hops they use, I'll post that before the event.

Participating Breweries

• Amnesia
• Big Horse
• BJ’s
• Bridgeport
• Cashmere
• Deschutes
• Double Mountain Brewery
• Elliot Glacier
• Fearless
• Fort George
• Full Sail Brewing
• Henry’s Karlsson Brewing
• Main Street
• McMenimins
• Highland
• Mt. Hood Brewing
• New Old Lompoc
• Ninkasi
• Pelican
• Rogue
• Roots Brewing
• Sierra Nevada
• Terminal Gravity
• Walking Man

Also note: the Tastivals go on the road, coming to Portland and Eugene on the following weekends.

Portland Fresh Hop Tastival
Saturday, Oct 10, noon- 9pm
7805 SE Oaks Park Way

Eugene Fresh Hop Tastival
Saturday, Oct 17, noon- 9pm
948 Olive St.

______________
*I was on the board of a local nonprofit for the past several years, and we always had a quarterly meeting on that date. They're meeting again, but I'm no longer on the board--whoo hoo!

Tastival Reviews, continued

Two more bloggers now have reviews up from the Fresh Hop tastival over the weekend at Hopworks. Bill liked Ninkasi, Deschutes' fresh hopped Mirror Pond, and Hopworks Parsec.

DA Beers dissents. He thought the Deschutes disappointed. But more, he was disappointed that the drinker/beer ratio was wrong--the most common complaint we heard. I also like this:

I'm an introvert and don't like crowds, I show up opening day to festivals so my agoraphobic tendencies don't get the best of me...

Amen, brother. Portland beer bloggers: Sox fans, introverts.

Reax to the Tastival?

Once again, I was out of town for this year's Portland installation of the fresh-hop tastivals. That makes me 0 for 5, I think. Next week it's in Eugene, but likelihood I go down is low. (When describing the probability that the Large Hadron Collider would swallow the universe, theoretical physicists describe it as "not identical to zero." Such is the probability I'll make a four-hour round trip journey to Eugene.)

Perhaps you went, though. Share your thoughts. What are the must-taste beers for those of us who didn't get a chance to go. (I'll link to blogo-reactions if they appear.)

Update, 10/20.
Angelo agrees with the commenters here--not enough beer, too many people. He has pictures and more.

Fresh Hops at Hopworks Tomorrow

No doubt this is on your calendar, but I repeat it to jog your memory:

Hopworks will be hosting the second of three fresh hop tastivals on Sat. October 18th, from noon - 9pm. It’s your once-a-year chance to taste what Oregon’s finest brewmasters can do with just-picked Willamette Valley hops. Sample more than 20 fresh hop beers from Oregon’s top craft brewers, large and small. Admission is free; glasses are $5, tasting tokens $1. Our tastival will include our own New York-style, thin-crust pizza, burgers, authentic German fare, dj stylings and 3 of our own fresh hop brews chock full of green, lush and earthy fresh hop flavor. The third and final event will be held at Ninkasi Brewing Co. in Eugene on the 25th. Come and indulge in the glory of the harvest like a true hop fanatic!

Hopworks Urban Brewery
2944 SE Powell Blvd
Portland, OR 97202
503 / 232-HOPS (4677)

Beer list (stolen from John--thanks, John!) below the jump. Go here for a printable list of the hop varieties used in these beers.

Click to expand and continue reading...

Astoria Brewing Co., Hoptimus Prime, Fresh Hop Ale
BridgePort Brewing Co., Hop Harvest, Imperial Pale Ale
Cascade Lakes Brewing Co., Warrior Fresh Hop Ale, Fresh Hop Pale
Deschutes Brewery, Sodbuster, Golden Ale
Deschutes Brewery, Mirror Pond made with Fresh Hops, Pale Ale
Deschutes Brewery, Hop Trip, Pale Ale
Double Mountain Brewery, Killer Green, IPA
Eugene City Brewery, Fresh Hop Pale, Pale Ale
Fort George Brewery, Ft. George Cohoperative, Pale Ale
Full Sail @ Riverplace, Lupulin, Fresh Hop Ale
Golden Valley Brewery, Tour De Willamette, Pale Ale
Hopworks Urban Brewery, Fest of Fury, Organic Oktoberfest
Hopworks Urban Brewery, Parsec Pale, Strong Pale
Hopworks Urban Brewery, Barrel Aged-Dry Hopped Parsec Pale
Laurelwood Brewing Co., Hop Bale Pale, Pale Ale
Laurelwood Brewing Co., Fresh Nugs, Pale Ale
Lompoc Brewing, Proletariat Red, Organic Red
Lompoc Brewing, Octobock, Bock
Lompoc Brewing, Hop Press, Organic Pale
Lucky Labrador Brewing, the Mutt, Fresh Hop Ale
Ninkasi Brewing Co., Mt Hops, Pale Ale
Pelican Pub & Brewery, Elemental Ale, IPA
Rock Bottom Brewery, Hop Harvest, Fresh Hop Ale
Rogue Ales, Independence Ale, Pale Ale
Roots Organic Brewing Co., Hoppapotamus, ESB
Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Teaser, Xtra Pale Ale

Hop Cheat Sheet

On the eve of the first Fresh Hop Tastival (tomorrow, noon-9, Hood River, details here ), I thought I'd assemble* a list of most of the hops you will encounter, along with brief descriptions. How will they taste in their fresh variant? That is for you to discover.

Ahtanum
History. Its name is derived from the area near Yakima where the first hop farm was established in 1869 by Charles Carpenter. Flavor/Aroma. A Northwest-style hop with character similar to Cascades or Amarillo. Floral, citrus, piney, sharp. (alpha acid: 5.7-6.3% / beta acid: 5.0-6.5%) Commercial Examples. Stone Brewing - Arrogant Bastard, Sierra Nevada - Celebration

Cascade
History. The first commercial hop from the USDA-ARS breeding program, it was bred in 1956 but not released for cultivation until 1972. It was obtained by crossing an English Fuggle with a male plant, which originated from the Russian variety Serebrianka with a Fuggle male plant. Flavor/Aroma. The most-used Northwest hop, with a lovely mild citrus and floral quality. Commercial Examples. Deschutes - Mirror Pond, Sierra Nevada - Pale

Centennial
History. Centennial is an aroma-type cultivar, bred in 1974 and released in 1990. The genetic composition is 3/4 Brewers Gold, 3/32 Fuggle, 1/16 East Kent Golding, 1/32 Bavarian and 1/16 unknown. Flavor/Aroma. One of the "C" hops, along with Cascade, Chinook, and Columbus. Centennial imparts a pungent, citrus-like flavor and aroma. Sometimes called the Super-Cascade. (alpha acid: 9.5-11.5% / beta acid: 4.0-5.0%)

Chinook
History. Chinook hops were developed in the early 1980s in Washington state by the USDA as a variant of the Goldings Hop. Flavor/Aroma. An herbal, smoky/earthy character. (alpha acid: 12.0-14.0% / beta acid: 3.0-4.0%)

Crystal
History. Crystal was released 1993, developed in Corvallis a decade earlier. Crystal is a half-sister of Mt. Hood and Liberty. Flavor/Aroma. A spicy, sharp, clean flavor. It is not complex like Cascade but offers a clear note when used with other hops. (alpha acid: 4.0-6.0% / beta acid: 5.0-6.7%)

Liberty
History. Another cross of the Hallertauer Mittelfrüher, with characteristics similar to those of Mt. Hood, released in the mid-80s around the time of Mt. Hoods' release. Flavor/Aroma. mild and spicy, closely akin to Mt. Hood and Hallertau. (alpha acid: 3.5-4.5% / beta acid: 3.0-3.5%)

Millenium
History. A high-alpha hop released in 2000 and related to Nugget. A patented hop generally used as an extract. Flavor/Aroma. Herbal, apparently very similar to Nugget. (alpha acid: 12-15%)

Mt Hood
History. Another Corvallis product, it was developed in 1985 with the quality and aroma characteristics similar to its female parent Hallertauer Mittelfrüher. Flavor/Aroma. An aromatic variety derived from Hallertau with a refined, spicy aroma and clean bittering. A good choice for lagers. (alpha acid: 4.0-6.0% / beta acid: 5.0-7.5%)

Mt Rainier
History. A new hop about which I could locate little information. From a message board comes this description: Mt. Rainier has a complex parentage, including Hallertau, Galena, Fuggles and other hops. Flavor/Aroma. Floral/spicy aroma and flavor similar to a Hallertau. Aroma is reminiscent of licorice with a hint of citrus. (alpha acid: 6%)

Perle
History. An aroma-type cultivar, bred in 1978 in Germany from Northern Brewer. Flavor/Aroma. Clean, evergreen, almost minty bitterness and pleasant aroma. (alpha acid: 7.0-9.5% / beta acid: 4.0-5.0%)

Sterling
History. A cultivar of Saaz and Cascade principally. Apparently and Oregon hop released in 1998. Flavor/Aroma. Spicy, purported to be a good replacement for Saaz. (alpha acid: 4.5-5.0% / beta acid: 5.0-6.0%)

Teamaker
History. Released this year, with the lowest alphas of any hop and the greatest alpha/beta ratio of any hop. (Article here). Flavor/Aroma. No information. (alpha acid: 0.6 to 1.8% / beta acid: 5.4 to 13.2%)

Tettnang
History. The original hop from the Tettnang region of Germany, and one of the ancient "noble" hops. Flavor/Aroma. Spicy and floral. (alpha acid: 4.0-5.0% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%)

Willamette
History. A seedling of the British Fuggle, developed in 1976 in (unsurprisingly) Oregon and a standard in American brewing. Flavor/Aroma. Woody, earthy, peppery. (alpha acid: 4.0-6.0% / beta acid: 3.5-4.5%)

Warrior
History. A proprietary, high-alpha hop from Yakima Chief. Flavor/Aroma. Neutral, clean bittering. (alpha acid: 15-17%)

__________
*This is an assembly job. I didn't write these descriptions, but stole them from the following websites: Beer Advocate, Brew 365, Hopsteiner, Yakima Chief

Fresh Hop Festival

This weekend, the series of fresh hop "tastivals" kicks off in Hood River. I missed these last year, so I can't speak from personal experience--but they look cool.

• Roughly two dozen breweries with at least one fresh-hopped beer, many with more than one.
• Food, Columbia Gorge wines, and craft vendors.
• Live music and a children's play area (kids welcome from noon-6:30 pm)
  

The event is situated in downtown Hood River between 5th and 7th streets and Cascade and Columbia streets. Admission to the grounds is free. To taste beers, visitors must buy a 14-ounce commemorative tasting mug for $5, and taste-tokens -- $1 for a 3-ounce taste, $4 for a fill. Food and crafts vendors also set prices separately. Noon - 9pm.

Future Tastivals:
Oct. 18 – Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland , Noon – 9 p.m.
Oct. 25 – Ninkasi Brewing Company, Eugene, Noon – 9 p.m.

Incidentally, I did make it to Belmont Station last night, and I'll have my thoughts on fresh-hop beers from Ninkasi, Double Mountain, Full Sail, and Hopworks later.

Fresh Hop Festival

About ten or twelve years ago, Bert Grant, a beloved pioneer in the craft-beer movement, planted an acorn. In October, you should avail yourself of the opportunity to see how big the oak tree has become. In the mid-90s, he decided to take advantage of the vast wealth of hops that grew within a few miles of his brewery in Yakima (where well over half all domestic hops were grown at the time). He sent folks from the brewery out to the hop fields during the September harvest while he started prepping the mash tun. They gathered a batch of fresh hops, brought them back to the brewery, and within minutes of having been picked, were dumped into the boil.

This was radical. At the time, I recall hearing a lot of derision about this practice; fresh hops were reputed to lead to off-flavors and "gasiness." A gimmick, said the critics. Grant, who spent the last twenty years of his life proving critics wrong, proved to be the visionary. Now there is such love of fresh hops among breweries that harvest ales are pretty much de rigeuer; they are, as Bert Grant described them back in the day, the brewing world's Beaujolais Nouveau. Celebrating what has become a major phenomenon, the Oregon Brewers Guild and Oregon Bounty are hosting a series of tastings of 30 different fresh-hop beers in various places across the state. Thirty!

If you haven't tasted a fresh-hopped beer, you have missed a unique experience. Brewing with wet hops produces a far greener, earthier, herbal quality than traditional hopping. Not only do the hops dramatically change the flavor of the beer, they change recipes, too--alpha acids are converted unpredictably, so brewers aren't ever sure how a beer will turn out (even if the same varieties of hops are used year to year). For me, this is a wonderful old-world element. What results is unique and limited--breweries can never exactly replicate the flavor. These beers are also as perishable as the the freshly-picked hops--you have to drink them while they're fresh to experience before the delicate flavors fade. I regard this as pretty much a non-negotiable must-see event. If you love beers, don't miss it.

Our man in the middle, John Foyston, has the impressive list of breweries:

Brewery ________Hop(s)________Style______Name
Amnesia ________Cascades _____Pale Ale __Fresh Dusty Trail
BJ's ___________Willamettes __Pilsner ___Northwest Pils
Bridgeport _____Centennial ___IPA _______Hop Harvest Ale
Calapooia ______Nugget _______Rye Ale ___Fresh Hop Rye
Deschutes ______Perle ___________________Mother of Perle
Deschutes ______Nugget __________________The Golden Nugget
Deschutes ______Crystals _____Pale Ale __Hop Trip
Full Sail ______Cascades _____Pale Ale __Lupulin Ale
Golden Valley __Goldings _____Pale Ale __Golen Pale
Karlsson _______Goldings/Magnum___IPA ___Twisted Sister
Karlsson _______Multi Hop ____Pale Ale __Virgin Sister
Laurelwood _____Tettnanger ___Kolsch ____Fresh Hop Kolsch
Lucky Lab ______Cascades _____Pale Ale __Cascade Harvest
Lucky Lab ______Nugget _______IPA _______Golden Nugget
Lucky Lab ______Multi Hop _______________Mutt The Mutt
New Old Lompoc _Crystals _____Pils_______Crystal Missile
New Old Lompoc _Crystals _____Harvest ___Harvest Moon
Mia & Pia's ____Multi Hop ____IPA _______Fresh Hop Madness
Ninkasi ________Liberty _________________Harvest Fresh
Oregon Trail ___Multi Hop ____IPA _______Hop Doctor
Pelican ________Sterling _____Pils_______Elemental Ale
Philadelphia's _Nugget _______Amber _____Fresh Hop ESB
Raccoon Lodge __Cascades _____Harvest ___Hop Harvest Ale
Rock Bottom ____Perle ________Pilsner ___Perle Pilsner
Rogue __________Centennial ___IPA _______Hop Heaven
Standing Stone _Centennial ___Amber _____Tri-Centennial
Widmer__________Sterling _____Lager_____ Sterling Pilsner

Here's the schedule:

Hood River
Noon-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6; part of the Hood River Hops Fest in city parking lot at Columbia and Fifth streets.

Portland
Noon-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, McMenamins Edgefield, 2126 S.W. Halsey St., Troutdale

Eugene
Noon-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, Ninkasi Brewing, 272 Van Buren St.

Bend
Noon-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, Deschutes Brewery, 901 S.W. Simpson Ave.

Admission is free at all tasting events; glasses are $5; individual tastes are $1, full pour $4.

See you there!