The Fresh Hop Conundrum

Anyone who follows me on Instagram knows that I revel, more than most, in the spectacular abbondanza that is fresh hop (FH) season. This Pacific Northwest phenomenon of racing just harvested hops back to breweries in order to create one-of-a-kind beers is unlike any other in the world. And I’m still here for it.

But in recent years, I’ve also come to have real concerns about how local demand propels this season, not to mention the brewers and retailers who can live or die by it.

To quantify my concerns, I did some research and found some interesting numbers from the 2023 Fresh Hop Season to consider. I spent my Saturday parsing through every brewery that’s located in and/or distributes fresh hop cases & kegs around the Portland metro area (including Vancouver) and/or participated in a local FH Festival and here’s what I found:

• According to Untappd, 113 different locally available Oregon & Washington breweries released at least 1 Fresh Hop beer, and a total of 377 FH beers were released in 2023. The actual total is likely closer to 400 or more.
• Of those 113 breweries, 38 of them released one fresh hop beer this season, 91 breweries released 4 or fewer FH beers, and 12 breweries released 8 FH beers or more during the season.
• The first fresh hop beer available this year was Stormbreaker Brewing’s Nobody Puts Hazy In a Corner (Centennial) tapped on August 11th.
• The title for most fresh hop beers released in 2023 is effectively a tie between Single Hill and Varietal, both from the Yakima area and both apparently creating 15 fresh hop releases.
• As of yesterday, according to Digital Pour, there are at least 42 draft locations in the Portland metro area that are still pouring a total of 81 fresh hop beers [not including on-premise breweries or non-Digital Pour taproom menus].
• Roscoe’s, in Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood, tapped 138 unique FH kegs this season, a record for their location, yet none remain on draft today.
• The Portland Fresh Hop Pop Up at Blood Buzz/Prost held a 17 night FH focused series of smaller events featuring at least 70 different FH beers.

So what does it all mean, but more importantly, has the sheer volume of fresh hop beers produced gotten out of control?

Fresh Hop 2023, Harvest, and Cold vs Hot Side

This year saw arguably the most quality number of releases ever. Of the 85ish FH beers I sampled this year, very few were subpar, especially in comparison to years past.

Arguably the most exciting trend seen this year was a smaller number of early release, “cold side” fresh hop releases where a brewery effectively adds freshly harvested hops (often Centennial or Strata) into a beer that’s already finished primary fermentation.

This phenomenon used to result in an early rush of releases with poor shelf-stability, with many quite literally leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. Nowadays, many brewers have learned how to make these cold-side creations far better by utilizing liquid nitrogen to remove most of the green matter, making them less vegetal, lighter, and far more drinkable.

Also of note: the first days of harvest are getting earlier and earlier, with climate change and regional wildfires being the primary culprits. Maybe these early harvests can incentivize brewers to make their first batches on the hot-side for release in early September? Lets hope so.

Lastly, one reason fresh hop season has grown longer is that brewers who love some of the newest and most popular varietals, and also brew hot-side, have to wait until later in harvest to get them. Those hype hops include Comet, Luminosa, Mosaic, Citra, and more.

The Before-Times, COVID, and Post-COVID

Back in the day, when I was just beginning to dive into the Portland craft beer scene in 2012, fresh hop season was a different animal. Very few FH beers were produced and there weren’t many on shelves. Most breweries would create 2-3 FH releases, so if you didn’t go to Oaks Park, Hood River or Yakima for the Fresh Hop Festivals, you might be able to try it on draft at their brewery.

Additionally, many fresh hop beers were made on the cold side, with the season being decidedly shorter – essentially the last week of August to mid October or 7ish weeks. This years’ FH season is around 11-12 weeks. Remember, the actual hop harvest lasts less than 2 months, ending before October.

With all on-site consumption effectively compromised, if not completely nullified during covid, brewers dove headlong into packaging for consumption at home via orders to-go or home delivery, not to mention distribution to grocery stores. Unfortunately, they’ve never turned back. This year, around October 10th, I counted at least 80 different canned & bottled FH options on the shelf at Belmont Station, as seen below:

Today we see a variety of detrimental factors impacting Fresh Hop season. First, brewers are making larger batches of FH than ever before, which means more cans in stores and more draft. Institutional history and brewery preference tells us that FH should be more draft focused, yet on-premise sales still haven’t returned to pre-covid levels. Recent spikes in covid cases and inflated prices haven’t helped either.

Festivals, in general, have struggled since COVID, for a variety of reasons. I could write (… and was planning to write) a whole article about how craft beer festivals are honestly no longer a priority in Portland and barely needed in a city with such a mature industry. Fewer people are going to fests because they can buy cans of most any beer at a variety of grocery stores, at a bottle shop, and at their local brewery or taphouse.

Such is the case for Fresh Hop beer festivals, to some extent. Yes, the Fresh Hop Ale Festival in Yakima and the Portland Fresh Hop Pop-up Beer Fest are still going strong, but I heard from multiple brewery owners that the Hood River Hops Fest poured roughly half as much as in years past, plus the PDX Fresh Hops Festival at Oaks Amusement Park was rescheduled, resulting in poor turnout.

The Problems With Fresh Hop Beers and Solutions?

The early season glut of fresh hops disrupted the craft beer market in Portland for at least 2 months, far longer than I’ve ever experienced before. Early on, all customers and buyers want are FH, they both buy them in excess, drinkers buy them in excess and grow tired of them, yet the releases keep coming.

It all results in a back stock of cases & kegs at bottle shops and taprooms, an overall slowing of late season purchases, and ultimately loses for breweries and retailers who can no longer sell a quickly perishable product.

This glut also causes far fewer purchases of non-fresh hopped beer until late October, aside from Festbiers, Pumpkin beers, and darker seasonal styles. You can pretty much write-off any new non-fresh hop IPA releases in September or October. I’ve also noticed breweries releasing more fest biers and fruited sour styles than in years past as a countermeasure.

In the end, it’s always exciting for everyone to participate in this seasonal ritual, but instead of making as many fresh hop beers as possible, as early as possible, and in large distro-focused batches, why not invest in the more dependable hot-side process, brew smaller batches, utilize small format kegs (1/6bbl and 1/4 bbl kegs should be the standard), encourage smaller fresh hop fest options, and end the October/November fresh hop bottleneck?

I think the approach above would go a long way towards avoiding consumer burnout, cause less overall disruption for retailers & brewers, and do more to help build community in the process.