A Taste of the Season

For brewers, fresh hop season is a race to the boil — an exercise in timing and logistics during which they use freshly picked hops to create batches of seasonal beers that, according to Sisters brewer Wade Underwood, honor and celebrate the local harvest season.

“With more access to local farmers, and with more collaboration with our local and regional hop producers, there’s better access to fresh hops,” said Underwood, owner and founding partner of Three Creeks Brewing Co. “The cool thing about fresh hop beer is that to make them correctly, it’s only possible to make them two days out of the year — right when the hops are being harvested.”

The resulting brew, he said, features the organic nature of the hop plants themselves, which shows through in the floral notes of the beer.

“The brewery never smells better than on the days we’re brewing fresh hops,” he said.

This fresh hops aroma will certainly be palpable in Sisters this fall when it hosts its annual Sisters Fresh Hop Festival on Saturday, Oct. 1 from noon to 8 p.m. at Village Green Park. Attendees will have the opportunity to sample 48 beers from 24 local and regional breweries while enjoying live music, food from three on-site vendors, and a community vibe that’s inclusive to families and people of all ages.

Attendance is free, but to taste requires a $5 glass and the purchase of tasting tokens for $1 apiece. Proceeds from this year’s event — the seventh Sisters Fresh Hop Festival — will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

According to Underwood, a founding organizer of the event, hop farmers are central to brewers’ ability to produce quality beer using fresh hops.

“From the beer standpoint, we love our hop farmers, their creativity is great these days, and they’re driving a big portion of the craft market,” he said. “When it gets to the harvest season, you can have fun and play with [fresh hop brews] in ways you can’t do in other times of the year. It’s a partnership (between the brewers and the hop farmers), and it’s a once-a-year type thing.”

For three years, Smith Rock Hop Farm near Terrebonne has provided fresh hops to brewers throughout Central Oregon. According to Miles Wilhelm, co-founder of the farm, the grower-brewer relationship is a close one during fresh hop season.

“Hops are picked either by hand or by machine, and either a brewer will be on site or a farmer will grab the harvest and run it back to the brewhouse where the brewing process is already underway,” Wilhelm said. “The minute a hop cone is picked off the bine, it begins to degrade, like any other piece of produce. So the sooner you can get those cones into the boil or hopback of a brew, the fresher and possibly more distinct that beer will taste.

“Most brewers make space in their busy brew schedules for fresh hop beers during late August and early September,” he added. “Beer enthusiasts who enjoy fresh hop beers like the grassy, fresh notes that come through in the aroma because the brewer took advantage of late hop additions.”

Sponsors of this year’s Sisters Fresh Hop Festival include Ray’s Food Place, Bigfoot Beverage Distributors, Hoodoo, FivePine Lodge and Sisters Rental. Tasters will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite beer of the event, which is annually awarded the Golden Bunny Award.