Perhaps you’ve noticed your favorite breweries sharing photos — and brewing with — copious amounts of green, whole-cone hops. Fresh hop season is here, and it won’t last long.
Harvested in late August or September, most hops (used to add flavor, aroma and bitterness to beer) are kiln-dried to preserve them for year-round brewing. During a short window of time each year, brewers jump at the chance to add sticky, resinous fresh hops (also known as “wet hops”) to their beers for a fleeting taste of the harvest season.
One local brewery is taking the fresh hop frenzy a step further. Stones Throw Brewery in Fairhaven will host a Fresh Hop Block Party from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23. The free, family-friendly festival will feature live music and celebrate the release of Stones Throw’s Centennial Fresh Hop Ale. And you can contribute to the brewery’s next batch of Community Fresh Hop beer by donating your homegrown hops.
Celebrate the release of Stones Throw Brwery’s Centennial Fresh Hop Ale at the Saturday, Sept. 23 Fresh Hop Block Party. (Photo courtesy of Stones Throw Brewery)
If, like my family, you have mysterious, unidentified hops growing in your backyard, here’s an opportunity to put them to good use. On Friday, Sept. 22, and during the block party on Saturday, Stones Throw will collect fresh hops from neighbors for its annual Community Fresh Hop brew. The variety doesn’t matter as long as the hops are freshly picked.
Hop flowers spoil rapidly, which is why most are immediately kiln-dried. If you’d like to contribute to Stones Throw’s Community Fresh Hop beer (or make your own home brew) it’s best to leave hops growing on the vine until brew day, harvesting at the last minute. Essentially, the fresher the better.
“Hops that are picked more than a day before brew day are not usually suitable to use in a fresh hop beer,” Stones Throw brewer Duncan Kunkel-Patterson said. “Picking the day of the block party is ideal, so we can brew the very next day.”
Once it gathers hops from the community, Stones Throw will use them to add aroma to the beer.
“We use commercial hops to impart bitterness,” Kunkel-Patterson said. “The community hops are used for aroma after cooling the wort to 170 degrees, so their bitterness does not develop and the volatile hop aromas are not boiled off.”
Chuckanut Brewery will serve its Fest Bier golden lager in liter mugs on Saturday, Sept. 9, at Chuckanut Oktoberfest. (Photo courtesy of Chuckanut Brewery)
Kunkel-Patterson also noted this will be Stones Throw’s final Community Fresh Hop beer made with local malt from Skagit Valley Malting. As previously reported in Open & Closed (formerly Places & Things), the maltster closed abruptly in June.
In addition to fresh hops, local brewers are releasing their seasonal Oktoberfest beers this month. Just about every brewery in Cascadia will have a fresh hop ale or Oktoberfest lager on tap in September (some brew both), so check in with your favorite taproom for a taste.
In downtown Bellingham, Darach Brewing is closing after nine months of business. Opened in December 2022, the Bellingham brewery’s last day will be Saturday, Sept. 23.
“One of our goals when we opened Darach Brewing was to bring new and interesting beers to Bellingham, and in that we feel like we succeeded,” owners Emily Nichols and Shawn Vail wrote in a social media post. “Unfortunately, time was not on our side to grow a big enough base to support ourselves, which is why we are closing.”
Darach is offering discounts on merchandise and to-go beer during the month of September.
Brews news: Oktoberfests and fall harvest events
• Chuckanut Brewery will serve its Fest Bier golden lager in liter mugs on Saturday, Sept. 9, at Chuckanut Oktoberfest. Expect Bavarian-style brats, games and beer aplenty at the brewery’s Burlington location.
• If you’d like to get your hands on some local hops, Hop Skagit is hosting harvest events this month. The farm will be open for U-pick hops and wreath-making from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 10. It is also seeking harvest help on Monday, Sept. 11 and Friday, Sept. 15. Check in with Hop Skagit directly for its location and harvest hours.
• The fourth annual Sunnyland Fest returns Thursday, Sept. 14 through Sunday, Sept. 17. All seven Sunnyland neighborhood breweries come together to host this Oktoberfest-style event with costumes, decorations, music, prizes, food specials and festbiers.
• Bellingham’s newest brewery, Larrabee Lager Co., is hosting an all-day Oktoberfest party on Saturday, Sept. 16. Stop by to enjoy its Oktoberfest Marzen, German food menu, live accordion tunes and festive games.
• Aslan Depot will hold a Lager Fest Kick-off Party at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16. Celebrate with Aslan’s Das Boot Oktoberfest-style helles lager, plus soft pretzels, a brat barbecue and live music.
Brandon Fralic’s Drink Cascadia column runs the second week of every month. Reach him at drinkcascadia@gmail.com.
