Last Monday I
listed the fresh hop beers I had tried so far, and promised more updates along the way. I thought I might be able to pull off the stunt of trying a different variety each day, but Monday and Tuesday already fell through for me. The earliest beers came out much sooner than the parade of them that is starting to emerge now.
I think there are enough things out now, that if I can schedule things right, I should be able to keep a streak going now for a couple of weeks, maybe until the Portland Fresh Hop Tastival Oct. 9. Remember, if you see a fresh-hop offering that's not on the
Fresh Hop Map, drop me a line so I can update it.
Here's my current list of must try/should try/don't bother from what I've seen so far:
Must try:
- Deschutes Fresh-Hopped Mirror Pond
- Full Sail Lupulin (right now it's the First Gold variant)
- Rock Bottom Hop Harvest
- Bridgeport Hop Harvest
- Lompoc Crystal Missile
Worth a try:
- Sierra Nevada 2010 Harvest Ale
- Fort George Hopstoria
- Issaquah (Rogue) Wet Frog
- McMenamins Thundercone
- Pelican Elemental Ale
Don't get distracted:
- Hale's Harvest Ale (all dried hops)
- Hopworks Gayle's Pale (all dried hops)
- Deschutes King Cone
- Hopworks Goldilocks (all dried hops)
I had complained that the Fresh-hopped Mirror Pond was not as good as last year's, but I have to take that back. I tried it again Friday, and it was just how I remember it. I don't know which of us -- me or the beer -- was having a bad day when I first tasted it, but I'm back on board with saying it is the most important beer you will ever taste in your life.
People have been raving about the hard-to-find Pelican Elemental. I don't get it. It is a solid beer, with unmistakable fresh-hop goodness, but it has a few too many other flavors going on to make it into my first tier. Instead, I would seek out the Lompoc Crystal Missile, which is a light, easy drinker just perfect for showing off what we like about these fresh-hop ales. It reminds me of the first of these that I tasted a few years ago.
The McMenamins Thundercone I tried at the Crystal was not bad. A little light on the hops, but they had the idea. McM's threw a curve ball at my plans to keep the
Fresh Hop Map complete: this beer was brewed at
every McMenamins brewery, and is served at every pub. Well, after adding two of the locations to the map, I realized I wasn't going to cover them all. If you taste a batch that was especially fine, contact me and I'll add that location to the map.
Rant:
Why do I put "all dried hops" next to some of the beers to avoid? Why not just leave them off the list?
Because these beers are promoted as Fresh Hop Beers. Oh, the hops are "freshly dried", but they're not "wet hops".
That is ridiculous. If you go to the grocery store and ask for fresh parsley, or fresh ginger, or fresh garlic, they will point you to the produce aisle. Try telling them you don't want
wet parsley, you want
fresh-dried parsley. And by the way, where is the
wet ginger? I'm making a stir-fry, should I put in dried garlic, fresh garlic, or
wet garlic?
Hopworks is selling "fresh hop beers" brewed with 100% dried hops. Gosh, maybe we better go over their
food menu. Hmmm... that fresh romaine lettuce, is it wet lettuce, or fresh-dried? What about the fresh spinach and fresh basil -- are you sure those were dried freshly at the farm? I'm not sure about the fresh cucumbers on that salad, is it possible to get it with wet cucumbers?
Don't fall into this trap of talking about "wet hops". Those are fresh hops. All other hops are dried hops. Calling dried hops "fresh" is pure deception.