Every fall a certain kind of beer shows up on Seattle tap lists and in fridges, gets people talking for a few weeks, and then disappears until next year. If you have seen "fresh hop" or "wet hop" on a can and wondered what the fuss is about, this one is for you.
Hops are the flowers of a climbing plant. They grow up tall strings on a vine called a bine, and they give beer most of its bitterness and a lot of its aroma.
Almost all the hops brewers use all year are dried, or kilned, right after harvest. Drying lets them keep for months so they can be shipped, stored and used whenever a brewer needs them.
A fresh hop beer skips all of that. The hops come off the bine and go into the brew kettle within hours, still green, still wet, never dried. That is why you will hear the same beer called fresh hop or wet hop. Same idea, two names.
A wet hop starts to break down almost as soon as it is picked, so the brewery has to be ready to brew the moment the hops arrive. There is no stockpiling and no second chance.
Most of the hops grown in the United States come from Washington's Yakima Valley, a few hours east of here over the mountains. That puts Seattle breweries closer to the hop fields than almost anyone in the country, which is exactly what a fresh hop beer needs.
Harvest runs from late August into September. So the fresh hop beers start landing in September and keep coming through October and into early November. Then they fade fast.
If you love a hoppy beer, think of fresh hop as the same thing with the volume turned toward green.
No two fresh hop beers taste alike, even from the same brewery year to year. It depends on the hop variety, the farm, the weather that summer and how fast everything moved on brew day.
All hoppy beer is best fresh. Fresh hop beer is the extreme version of that rule.
Those bright green aromas are the first thing to go. Give a fresh hop beer a few weeks too long and it starts to taste like a regular pale ale, which is fine, but it is not why you bought it. So do not cellar it or save it for January. Keep it cold and drink it soon.
That is also why these beers are here and gone. Breweries make a small batch, it goes out the door in the fall, and when it is gone, it is gone until the next harvest.
In our fridge this week: ¡Bien Jugosa!, a juicy fresh hop pale ale from El Sueñito Brewing up in Bellingham. The name pretty much tells you what to expect. It is bright, juicy and easy to drink, a good way to taste what fresh hop season is about without diving into a heavy, bitter IPA.
It is here while it lasts, and like every fresh hop beer, it will not last long.
A juicy fresh hop pale ale and a hot pizza is a very good afternoon. The hops cut through melted cheese, and the green, citrusy side of the beer keeps every bite tasting fresh.
Our pizza dough is made fresh here with organic flour from local Washington growers, and it makes a crust that holds up to a beer with this much flavor. Go for something classic and cheesy, or something with a bit of heat. Hoppy beer and spice are old friends.
That is fine too. We pour fourteen rotating taps plus a fridge full of cans, so there is always a crisp lager, a stout or something sour on the beer list. You can check what is pouring today on our Untappd page. And if beer is not your thing at all, we have natural wine by the glass.
New to hoppy beer? Our posts on beer ingredients and how beer is made explain what hops actually do.
Dogs are welcome inside, so bring your pup along for a fresh hop pint.
We are at 2446 NW Market St in Ballard, next to the Nordic Museum. Just walk in; no reservations needed. Come soon, because fresh hop season does not wait.
