Hop Harvest Season Gives Way to Fresh Hop Beers in Local Taprooms

This time of year yields a special type of beer from craft breweries. I'm not talking about a seasonal style that's traditionally served in the fall, but instead a category of beers that can be brewed only at a specific time of the year. If you walk into any number of craft breweries right now, you can probably find a beer that's been brewed using fresh hops, or wet hops. When hops are harvested, they're typically dried and then pelletized to be used year-round. They can also be used right off the vine when they're fresh, going into the batch wet and whole. Hop harvest occurs in the late summer, so hops that were picked and used fresh this year are currently getting their chance to shine in fresh hop pale ales and IPAs.

Colorado isn't historically known for growing hops, and most of the hops used by Colorado craft breweries come from outside the state. That's one reason fresh hop beers are special for Colorado craft breweries. It gives them an opportunity to use home-grown hops and support local farmers. Colorado hops growers celebrated a record harvest this year, thanks to an increasing number acres being used for this purpose, mostly on the Western Slope. That means more fresh hops to go around for any craft brewery who wanted to purchase them for immediate use.

I had a chance to enjoy a delicious fresh hop beer recently at Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery, an excellent downtown Denver brewery that's been open for nearly a year. The beer, Hop Sponge I, is one of several fresh hop beers Jagged Mountain brewed for tappings that coincided with the 2014 Great American Beer Festival. Hop Sponge I is a Fresh Hop Belgo-American IPA that called for 37 pounds of fresh Cascade hops, all from Paonia, Colorado, in a full batch on Jagged Mountain's 10 barrel brewing system. It pours a beautiful dark orange color, and has an aroma of fresh citrus and lemongrass. With one sip, you can tell this beer was made with fresh ingredients. There are flavors of orange, lemon, pine, grass, and some subtle fruity esters derived from Belgian yeast. Hop Sponge I has a bitter bite up front, but the fresh fruit flavors overtake the bitterness for very pleasant and smooth finish. It's a crisp and refreshing yet substantial beer, at 7.5 percent ABV.

Fresh hop beers like Hop Sponge I won't last long, so stop into Jagged Mountain or another fine local craft brewery soon to try them. It's a chance to get a taste of the local land, support both local brewers and farmers, and enjoy unique flavors that come around just once a year.