Fresh Hops Season

This Saturday we went to the local Hokie watering hole, The People’s Pub, to catch the VT vs. Wake Forest game with a collection of local Hokie imports, including our good friend Carolyn who came down from Vancouver, BC to join us.  We enjoyed the camaraderie as well as the delicious German cuisine and famous fried pickles. We met some new friends who happened not to be Hokies, but were there only because their bar was overflowing.

Which brings me to the point of this post… Their bar, The Noble Fir, was overflowing because it is Fresh Hop Season and they were hosting the “Fresh Hop Throwdown - Oregon vs. Washington”, a smorgasbord showcasing 15 regional fresh hop beers. Fresh hop, or wet hop beer means the beer is brewed from hops that are still wet (within 24 hours of harvesting) whereas beer is normally brewed from stored and dried hops. It basically means that the bitterness, flavor, and aroma are more pronounced, or a fresher brew.

Unbeknownst to us, Washington is one of the top hop producers in the world! Quite surprising to a couple of hop enthusiasts who know a good IPA when they taste one. Right here in our backyard the PNW is the Napa Valley of hops! It now makes quite a bit of sense that there are so many microbrews in the PNW; more varieties than you can anticipate tasting. Portland having more breweries per capita than any other US city. 

So, interestingly the seasonal beer of the area is the whatever permutation of fresh hop beer each brewery comes up with. There is a craft beer store a few blocks from our house, Chucks Hop Shop - “Land of a Thousand Beers,” which by itself limits the distance we would ever need to venture for a new taste experience, to a mere 3 blocks, and has enough selection to occupy an eternity. We have our first growler, from Chucks Hop Shop, so we can partake in tasting the season and the region.