In Search of the Holy (Fresh Hop) Ale

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I tend not to be a huge fan of fresh hop beers. I like the creative aspect and I once made my own fresh hop beers. That was back when I grew hops on the side of the house and home-brewed every other week. And before aphids ravaged my hops plants.

The problem with fresh hop beers is most of them don't have a lot of character. I suppose this is exactly what makes them special. When you use whole hops that haven't been compressed and dried, you wind up with beers that are typically juicier and brighter. More flavor or aroma? Not in my experience. But that's my opinion.

The side view glamour shot

It doesn't much matter what I think because the brewing community has jumped on the fresh hop bandwagon. A few years ago, your typical craft brewery might produce a single fresh hop beer this time of year. They'd pour that beer for a few weeks and that would be it. Craziness in craft beer being what it is, most places are now brewing several fresh hop beers and releasing them on a staggered schedule.

There's a lot of denial out there regarding fresh hop beers. Brewers are happy to talk about the creative appeal and uniqueness of these beers. That's well and good. In practice, though, breweries are forced to have a fresh hop beer. Why? Because everyone else does. When your best friends jump off a cliff, you're obligated to follow, right? Indeed.

Despite my ragged opinion of fresh hop beers, I ran into a very nice one at Laurelwood yesterday. It wasn't Fresh Hop Workhorse, which I found to be thin and a mere shadow of its standard self. It also wasn't the fresh hop version of their terrific Pilsner. Instead, it was Fresh Hop Red, which they started pouring on Monday at the Sandy location.

A nicely bronzed head caps this fine beer

Fresh Hop Red is a modified version of Laurelwood's well-known and respected Free Range Red. They add fresh Cascade Hops harvested at Crosby Hop Farms in Woodburn for the fresh hop effect. This is a terrific beer...with a well-balanced hop and malt character. I suppose you could argue that some of the more volatile aromas and flavors imparted by the fresh hops are subdued by the chewy backbone of this beer. No matter...it's not to be missed.

Brewmaster Vasili Gletsos says he hopes to keep the Fresh Hop Red on for a couple of weeks. This in contrast to Laurelwood's prior fresh hops beers (Workhorse and Pils), which lasted only about a week each before running dry. Get down there and give Fresh Hop Red a try.

Fresh Hop Shot in the Foot

Back when I was a regular  home brewer and also grew my own hops, I often used homegrown hops in my beers. I even used fresh hops a few times, typically in beers made in September or October. I don't remember the results being particularly spectacular, but it was a fun thing to do and I liked the creative concept.

While I was experimenting, so were the real brewers. I don't know which brewery produced the first fresh hop beer of note, but it seems like these beers started appearing about a decade ago. It was a trickle at first, but fresh hop beers are everywhere now.

Spendy $8 glassware

Fresh hop beers are a seasonal affair. It's not so hard to figure out why. The hops needed to make these beers are only available in the fall...and that's the way it will stay until we come up with a way to replicate hops (ala Star Trek). That makes fresh hop beers arguably special, and presents brewers with a marketing opportunity. Which they are running with.

Enter the plethora of fresh hop festivals popping up. There was one in Hood River on Oct. 1st and one in Portland this past Saturday. Those are not the only ones, I'm sure. Plus, numerous breweries are rolling out fresh hop brews with special release parties, events and fanfare. Fresh hop beers have become part of the festival scene. For better or worse.

The biggest problem with fresh hop beers: The vast majority of them aren't that great. I was beginning to form that opinion prior to visiting the Fresh Hop Festival at Oaks Park, based on prior tasting experiences around town. That opinion was confirmed at the festival, where I tasted a collection of beers I hadn't tasted before.

I'm not even going to get into the beers I tasted and thought less than stellar. They were made by breweries large and small. The common theme was a lack of depth and character. These beers had very little hop aroma or flavor. IBUs were all over the place, but most tasted obnoxiously bright...or perhaps some would say, green.

The line-up...character not included.

Look, I understand fresh hop beers are not going to taste like beers made with dried hops. The question is, can you make great beers with fresh hops? Based on recent experiences, I'm not convinced you can. I'm a fan of hoppy beers. But the fresh hop beers are mostly disappointing. Just my opinion, of course.

Festival Comments
To enter this festival, you had to buy a tasting package. They were charging $1 per ticket, with each ticket good for a 4 oz. taste. Oh, I should note that a few beers required more than one ticket. Still, that's good value, consistent with what other festivals do.

On the flip-side, you had to pay $8 for a shaker pint glass that cost them a fraction of that. Sure, I'll add the glass to my collection at home. But I didn't need to pay an exorbitant price for the privilege. It has become stylish to overcharge patrons for a tasting glass or mug as a way of making money. I wish this annoying practice would stop, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I met Nutmeg, who was getting lots of attention

The overall setup at Oaks Park was pretty good, with plenty of room under the tent and lots of tables. It was not crowded during my mid-afternoon stint and most of the numerous tables were empty. Up front, there were lines for some beers, caused mostly by the fact that they seemed to have one person pouring 6-8 beers. It wasn't much of an issue, but that arrangement would not have worked very well with a large crowd.

Next up: the pumpkin beers