2012 Fresh Hop Beers and Festivals

We're just a week away from Oregon's granddaddy Fresh Hop event, the Hood River Hops Fest, next Saturday September 29, 2012.  My beer-blogging brother Ezra over at the New School pulled off the astounding coup of becoming the curator for this year's HRHF, and he put together a superlative lineup of beers.  Highlights include new breweries like Pfriem, Gigantic, and Solera; a couple of beers that I've already tried this year that are among the best ever; plus a first-ever fresh-hop offering by Block 15.  I don't recall ever getting a fresh hop beer from Lagunitas, but apparently there will be one at Hood River.  Seriously, read the list, you'll be amazed.  I also like it that Ezra notes the hop varieties on all the beers -- a crucial piece of information that is often lacking at events like this.

Last year was the first year I made it out to Hood River for the fest despite a longstanding interest in fresh hop beers.  Even though it's just in a parking lot in the middle of town, the views out toward the surrounding hills make a very nice setting for a festival.

Then Portland gets its turn the following Saturday, October 6, with the Portland Fresh Hops Beer Fest at Oaks Park.  I'm not sure the list is out yet for that festival, but Oaks Park is also a lovely setting if the weather is good.  Most importantly, I can ride my bike there on the Springwater Corridor.

This year I haven't gone as insane in trying to track down fresh hop beers as I have in years past.  The 2012 Fresh Hop Map tells the tale -- not much action compared to last year's map, and this year I have 3 people helping fill it in.  Still, it's becoming difficult to avoid fresh hop beers, so here are the ones I've tried so far (I will keep updating this list as the season goes on).  As usual, I'll rank them in order of my preference, and split them into four categories:  truly excellent must-try fresh hop beers, beers with good fresh hop character, good beers that somehow lost the fresh hop character, and beers to avoid.  Beers marked "(HR)" are on the list for the Hood River Hops Fest. 
[Update 2012/10/02: Beers that will be at Oaks Park on October 6 (according to the OBG's Fresh Hop Beer List (pdf)) are marked "(OP)".]

Must Try:

• Laurelwood Fresh Hop Free Range Red (HR) (OP)
• Deschutes Fresh Hop Bachelor Bitter (HR)
• Deschutes Fresh Hop Mirror Pond (OP)
• Double Mountain Killer Red (draft -- bottle isn't as good)
• Ninkasi Total Crystallization (OP)

Good Fresh Hop Flavor:

• Crux Crystal Zwickel
• Alameda 100# Nugget
• Deschutes Fresh Hop Deschutes River Ale
• Upright Kiln 'em All (HR)
• Logsdon Fresh Hop Seizeon (OP)
• New Belgium Trip 14
• Gigantic The Most Interesting Beer in the World (HR) (OP)
• Rogue Chatoe Wet Hop (HR) (OP)
• Lucky Lab Mutt
• Pelican Elemental Ale (OP)
• Lucky Lab Last Little Fresh Hop in Oregon
• Full Sail Hopenfrisch Lager (OP) 
• Base Camp Hoptastic Voyage
• Ft. George Fresh Hop Vortex
• Burnside Nuggets With Attitude
• 10 Barrel Crosby Fresh Hop (OP)
• Falling Sky Whoa Dang
• Commons Fresh Hop Farmhouse
• Three Creeks Cone Lick'r (OP)
• Big Horse Paragon
• Breakside Wet Hop Simcoe 
• Anderson Valley Mendo Mellow
• Falling Sky So Fresh, So Green Lager (OP) 
• Oakshire Ask the Fish 
• Hales Fresh Hop Supergoose 
• MacTarnahan's Fresh Hop Amber
• Migration Green Reaper 
• Sierra Nevada 2012 Harvest Ale (bottle) 
• Deschutes King Cone (HR) (OP)
• Rock Bottom Fresh Hop Ale (HR)
• Double Mountain Killer Green
• Pints Fresh Hop Seismic Upgrade IIPA
• Amnesia French Connection
• Cascade Lakes Harvest
• Everybody's Brewing Fresh Hop Head Stash
• Sasquatch Fresh Hopped Healy Heights
• Burnside Pub Draught
• Astoria Fresh Hop
• Golden Valley Crystal Fresh Hop 
• McMenamins Thundercone (OP)

Good Beer, Can't Taste the Fresh Hops:

• Bridgeport Hop Harvest (HR) (OP)
• Deschutes Fresh Hop Black Ale
• Lompoc Harvest Man Red
• Pfriem Fresh Hop Strong Blonde 
• Hopworks Powell Estate IPA
• Beer Valley Fresh Hop Leafer Madness
• Alameda Failing Street Fresh Hop IPA (OP)
• Oakshire 100 Hops (OP)
• Logsdon Fresh Hop Seizeon Bretta
• Deschutes Fresh Hop Black Butte Porter
• Hopworks Give Me Liberty (HR) (OP)
• Pints Fresh Hop Saison
• Ninkasi Smells Like Purple (OP)
• Lucky Lab Reaperweizen
• Block 15 Heliotropic
• Schooner Exact Amarillo Fresh Hop

Beers to Avoid:

• Two Beers Fresh Hop IPA (bottle)
• Coalition Green Pig
• Solera Kwazy Wabbit (OP)
• Old Market Vers Bloem
• Flat Tail Home Grown
• Beer Valley Tri-State (OP)
• Fire on the Mountain Magnum P.A.
• Walking Man Cents and Centsability

Some of these beers deserve special mention.  Gigantic's beer reminds me of the first fresh-hop beers I ever tried, 7 or 8 years ago when the trend was just getting off the ground: an almost honeyed light ale with beautiful fresh aroma and flavor.  It's an indication of how far this style has progressed that the flavor that made me a maniac only gets you into the "good" category these days.  Speaking of which, my favorite from the last two years -- Fresh Hop Mirror Pond, which I have often proclaimed the best beer in the history of the world -- is outdone this year by Laurelwood's astounding fresh-hopped version of their Red Ale, and also by Deschutes' own fresh-hopped Bachelor Bitter.  Don't miss any of those three beers this year.

Pfriem Family Brewers

You will soon start to see taphandles around town from a new brewery in Hood River: Pfriem Family Brewers.  Brewer/owner Josh Pfriem (pronounced "Freem"), was at Bazi Bierbrasserie Friday with his wife Annie and some more of the Pfriem crew to promote his new Belgian-styled beers.  Those in attendance got to try the five beers on the current roster -- Pfriem calls them the "2012 varietals", implying that 2013 might offer a different lineup.

The beers don't have clever names, at least not so far:  they're just called by whatever style they are.  Here's what we tried on Friday:

• Wit: Noticeably more bitter than most wits (this is intentional), but a nice take on the style, with the usual herbal/yeasty flavors.
• Blonde IPA: Josh said he thinks of this as a "Pilsner IPA" -- it is brewed with pilsner malts -- but also intends it as an homage to Westvleteren Blonde (a surprisingly hoppy light Belgian beer).  It is very crisp and dry.  Interesting and not bad, though I think IPA is not quite the right word for it.
• Belgian Strong Blonde: I loved this beer. It has that nice clovey flavor like Duvel (though it's always dangerous to compare something to Duvel).  Like the other Pfriem beers, it's pretty dry and light-bodied, and it is a beautiful-looking beer: impossibly light in color, almost clear, but with a golden sparkle.
• IPA: This is intended to be the NW style house offering.  Again, surprisingly dry and light on the tongue, but with nice floral hops.  Pretty strong at 7.2%.  Not bad, but probably not going to become your go-to IPA.
• Belgian Strong Dark: A 10% sipper, with the kinds of dark fruit, chocolatey, almost leathery flavors you want in big beers like this, but still drier than a lot of beers this size.  Josh wouldn't call it a Quadrupel, but he does want you to think of beers like St. Bernardus when you're drinking this. 

All the beers were clean and well-made.  At a point in time where saisons and related "farmhouse" styles seem to be all the rage, it's interesting that Pfriem didn't go down that road.  Nor are they selling any wild or sour ales, though Josh did say that a wild-ale program is in the works for future releases.  I predict that the Strong Blonde and Strong Dark are going to be the most popular Pfriem beers.  It's great to have an Oregon brewery focus on those kind of Abbey-inspired Belgians -- I can't think of another brewery in the region that has those as their flagships, though Hopworks comes out with some great strong Belgians from time to time.

Except for the Wit, all the beers we tried were filtered, which gave them a really pretty clarity in the glass.  If there's a common theme in my tasting notes, it's "dry" -- there was nothing anywhere near cloying in any of the beers, and even the stronger ones were surprisingly light-bodied and drinkable.

Look for Pfriem beers on draft in Portland at finer establishments.  The brewery has ordered equipment to produce corked-and-caged 750 ml bottles.  The tasting room at the brewery in Hood River will hold a grand opening Saturday August 4th, and it looks like the hours after that will be 11:30 to 9 Wednesday thru Sunday.

Further reading: Ezra has a very detailed interview with Josh over at the New School.

Hood River Hops Fest 2011

Early autumn in the Northwest is marked by the return of the rain and drastically shorter days, but brings with it a special compensation: beer flavored with fresh hops.  The Hood River Hops Fest kicks off a series of fresh hop beer festivals around Oregon each year, and I was glad to finally make it the HRHF for the first time last Saturday.  The weather could not have been nicer, the crowd was bustling but manageable, and there were some very nicely done beers on tap.

There were 38 fresh hop beers offered up, and I had already slimmed down the task ahead of me by scouting out 16 of them around Portland in the couple of weeks that the fresh stuff has been out. I also cut a few corners by skipping Portland breweries that I knew I could easily catch up with if I didn't get to those beers at a festival. Even so, the taps started drying up mid-afternoon, and I missed out on a couple of beers that I intended to try: Pelican Elemental Ale and Beer Valley Fresh Hop Leafer Madness. Those are pretty popular numbers, and both are bottled in limited quantities, so I expect to track them down somehow or another. Is it just a coincidence that these are also the two breweries that give me so much trouble every time I go to compile the Portland Beer Price Index?

My favorites of the day were:

• Big Horse Vernon the Rabbit Slayer -- giant double IPA, with a beautiful flowery hop flavor
• Elysian Kama Citra -- awesome, very fresh flavor
• Logsdon Fresh Hop Sezoen -- very different take on fresh hops, nice apricot flavor
• Double Mountain Killer Red -- malty red ale with good fresh hop presence
• Ft. George CoHoporative Ale -- great orange blossom hops (lots of Centennials?)

Double Mountain's Killer Green is a yearly favorite, though I tend to complain that the fresh hop greenness gets buried under the massive bitterness, so I was looking forward to trying this year's and comparing it to Killer Red, which I don't recall seeing before.  Killer Red is just as massive, but to my mind does show off the fresh hops better, even though it's built on a darker, roastier beer.

I was a little disappointed in Ninkasi's Total Crystallization -- Total Domination with fresh Crystal hops.  Last year it was stunning, and really a breakthrough for Ninkasi, who had always come up surprisingly short at fresh hop time.  This year it was nicely bitter, with a pleasant grassiness, but not up to the level of last year's.  Their Fresh Hop Tricerarillo had a little more going for it, but could still be better.

There was one disaster at the festival:  Lucky Lab's Reaperweizen, which was either infected or had something else strange going on with it.  A couple weeks ago I had an early taste of Reaperweizen, and it seemed promising at that time, so I don't know what happened in the meantime to it.

The Hood River Hops Festival was a great time; if you've never been, consider going next year.  As with every festival, early is better, as some of the buzz beers were gone in just a few short hours, and by about 7 PM very few of the 52 beer lines were still flowing.

The Portland Fresh Hop Tastival is coming up this Saturday, October 8, 2011 at Oaks Park, 12 - 8 PM (there is also a sneak preview Friday night from 5:30 to 8:30).  I've updated the Fresh Hop 2011 Progress Report with my opinions from the Hood River Festival -- when the Oaks Park taplist is published I'll probably put up another progress report annotating the beers that will be on tap Saturday.