Across the northern latitudes of America, each summer’s end brings a bountiful harvest of fragrant, green hop flowers. The vast majority of these flowers, also known as hop cones, are dried in special kilns and then packaged in bales or compressed into hop pellets so popular for use by brewers worldwide.

A precious few cones, however, are not dried but are bagged fresh and immediately shipped to arrive within 24 hours of harvest at select breweries around the United States. These breweries stand ready to inject these fresh, wet hop cones into the brewing process to make a very special craft beer.

Brewers await the delivery trucks with their kettles ready to receive the fresh hops, normally adding a very generous portion at the end of boiling the sweet brewing wort. Such a late addition of hops extracts and preserves the fresh herbal/citrus/piney/spicy/floral qualities that are the signature of the hop varieties used. Because hop flowers vary some from year to year due to growing conditions, each vintage is unique.

Once the beer has completed fermentation, brewers often also inject a big dose of whole fresh cones into the fermenter or conditioning tank. The hops spend a few days to a week or more on the beer and are then filtered out just before kegging or bottling. This technique extracts more big fresh hop aromas and flavors from the cones without extracting bitterness.

Style Details

The beer style Fresh Hop Ale is of North American origin. According to the Brewers Association these are ales that are "hopped exclusively with fresh and undried wet hops." In the marketplace however, you will find that many are bittered with regular dried hops, but use their healthy doses of fresh wet hops exclusively for flavoring. Fresh hop ales should have the characteristics of the underlying style in which they are brewed, such as American Pale Ale or I.P.A., with the added nuances of green, almost chlorophyll-like character.

Fresh hops retain more of their natural aroma and volatile flavors that do dissipate somewhat when the hops are dried. This gives wet hop beers a fresher hop flavor and aroma than those of beers hopped with the same variety of dried hops. Freshly picked hops are very perishable and need to be used within hours of harvest or they begin to quickly degrade.

Serve When Young

Once bottled, the fresh green hop flavor diminishes rather quickly, so it is best to serve these beers within a couple months of production. While fresh hop ales may be aged and enjoyed after the initial fresh-hop character diminishes, they will definitely taste different from the fresh one. Since the beers are typically produced around late August through September, it is best to make them a fall feature in the restaurant and try to close them out before the December holiday season.

Food Pairing

No other beer experience is quite like a fresh hop ale. The options it provides the chef for food pairing definitely stretch the envelope. Contrast its intense fresh green flavor with something like pork belly or leg of lamb, and complement it with a big curly endive and arugula salad, a roasted Brussels sprout, mushroom and floral cheese casserole, or maybe a savory New Mexico-style green chili sauce.

Some Rather Tasty Examples (Fall 2011)

(Compiled from brewery announcements and press reports)

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale

Great Divide Fresh Hop Pale Ale

Hops shipped overnight from Pacific Northwest fields to Denver and added to a base American Pale Ale. This year’s batch features Centennial, Cascade and Simcoe hops. Moderate bitterness with intense grassy hop flavor and aroma. Pairs with perfumed cheeses, grilled trout, bratwurst, garlic-ginger sweet potatoes. Available at end of September, early October.

Sierra Nevada Estate Homegrown Ale

From Sierra Nevada’s own fields comes a remarkable homegrown ale, made with organic wet hops and barley grown at its brewery in Chico and one of the few estate-made ales produced anywhere in the world. This Estate Ale is rich with the flavors of the valley—featuring hops with earthy, grapefruit-like flavors and layered spicy aromas and barley with mild sweetness and smooth, toasted flavors. Available in 750 ml bottles.

Rogue Brewing Chatoe Rogue Wet Hop Ale

Growing your own hops ensures optimum freshness, and that is exactly what Rogue does for this wet-hopped ale, which is a part of the brewery's aptly named GYO (or grow your own) series. Six different hop varieties from Rogue's micro hop yard offer clean and approachable flavors of soft citrus and mellow hop spice. Restrained bitterness on the finish makes this ale a perfect toe-dip into the fresh-hop style. Available in October.

Lips of Faith Series Fresh Hop India Pale Ale (New Belgium Brewing Co.)

This beer is flavored with a generous amount of fresh Cascade, Centennial and Amarillo hops. The hops go from vine to brew within 24 hours. Citrusy, soft fruit tones. 7% ABV, available in 22 oz bottles and draft.

This addition to the Mutiny Fleet series came as a result of an in house recipe competition. The winning fresh hop porter showcases the special flavors from locally grown, Maryland “wet” hops which were hand picked by brewery staffers. A limited release, not available in all states, 22oz bottles & draft. Available mid-September.

Nearly half a ton of farm-fresh Crystal hops from Salem, Oregon, are tossed into the brew kettles within four hours of picking. The reward: a pale ale with a uniquely bright citrus punch and fall spice. The subdued bitterness and long malty finish make it an easy-drinking pale ale. Available October.

Port Brewing High Tide Fresh Hop IPA

Brewed once each year to coincide with the Hop Harvest in Yakima Washington, High Tide IPA is made with 180 pounds of fresh Centennial and Chinook hops per batch that are plucked from the vines and sent straight to the brewery, which means the hops are ultra fresh and full of flavors not normally tasted in regular IPAs. Early fall release.

Summary

Any of these American fresh-hop craft beers will make a beautiful seasonal addition to your restaurant’s beer offerings. Like the story of nouveau wines, the story of fresh hop beer is a perfect teaser for a server to use when asking for a drink order. It can make your customers curious about this very special beer style and how it might be paired with food. It is a great opportunity to sell the story and have your guests experience a unique taste that expands their beer horizons.