Positive spin: it's been less than a year since I updated my beer blog! Yay!
Negative (Nancy) spin: what the *!@% - why has it taken you so long? You've certainly had enough beers to write about...
Well, well, well. Today I'm going to take the Positive...Polly? Prudence? Patsy? approach and kick such Negative Nancy-ness to the curb. Here's to beers (however belated) and specifically, the hoptastic kind!
In Seattle, September can bring a mixed bag of...things. In particular, September can bring continued summer and/or the city's first week (or two) of endless rain, gray, and drear. Yet one constant remains: September is fresh hops season in Seattle, the (literally) most hop, hoppiest time of the year!
What are fresh hops - and what makes them so special (aka amazing)? People who actually know beer (aka not myself) are likely to have a better answer, but based on a 30-second conversation with one of my favorite Fremont Brewing folks (and a seemingly astute Washington Beer Blog article), here's my synopsis (syhop?sis): Normal ales or IPAs are typically brewed with an assortment of dried hops. Fresh hop beers involve chucking a crap ton of hops into the brewing cauldron within 24 hours of being picked from the hop vine. How exactly this works - well, I'll leave that to the brewing wizards who concoct such drinkable delights.
This past week, Fremont Brewing released the first of three fresh hopped beers as part of their Field to Ferment program, the Centennial Fresh Hop Pale Ale. As an unabashed Amarillo and Citra hop fan, I'm clearly looking forward to the next two rounds of the Field to Ferment series. Nonetheless, I've been pleasantly surprised by how I've enjoyed the Centennial version (I may or may not be on my second six-pack at home).
Negative (Nancy) spin: what the *!@% - why has it taken you so long? You've certainly had enough beers to write about...
Well, well, well. Today I'm going to take the Positive...Polly? Prudence? Patsy? approach and kick such Negative Nancy-ness to the curb. Here's to beers (however belated) and specifically, the hoptastic kind!
It still blows my mind that people think they're being original when they call me this...
In Seattle, September can bring a mixed bag of...things. In particular, September can bring continued summer and/or the city's first week (or two) of endless rain, gray, and drear. Yet one constant remains: September is fresh hops season in Seattle, the (literally) most hop, hoppiest time of the year!
What are fresh hops - and what makes them so special (aka amazing)? People who actually know beer (aka not myself) are likely to have a better answer, but based on a 30-second conversation with one of my favorite Fremont Brewing folks (and a seemingly astute Washington Beer Blog article), here's my synopsis (syhop?sis): Normal ales or IPAs are typically brewed with an assortment of dried hops. Fresh hop beers involve chucking a crap ton of hops into the brewing cauldron within 24 hours of being picked from the hop vine. How exactly this works - well, I'll leave that to the brewing wizards who concoct such drinkable delights.
This past week, Fremont Brewing released the first of three fresh hopped beers as part of their Field to Ferment program, the Centennial Fresh Hop Pale Ale. As an unabashed Amarillo and Citra hop fan, I'm clearly looking forward to the next two rounds of the Field to Ferment series. Nonetheless, I've been pleasantly surprised by how I've enjoyed the Centennial version (I may or may not be on my second six-pack at home).
Beyond Fremont's stellar selection of fresh-hopped brews, other Seattle-based fresh hop happenings include:
- Reuben's Brews Amarillo Fresh Hop is available starting September 15, followed by Mosaic Fresh Hop and Crikey Fresh Hop (late September 2017).
- Fresh Hop Throwdown at the Noble Fir on September 23 (with potentially up to 16 or so fresh hop beers?!)
- (Allegedly) the 2nd Annual Seattle Fresh Hops Festival hosted by Hale's Palladium on October 7. I say "allegedly" since the current url links out to the 2016 event (otherwise documented by the Washington Beer Blog).
Cheers!
N
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