The Best of Craft Beer Awards is an annual competition that takes place in Bend, Oregon each March. The Fresh Hop version of the competition is judged separately to account for the ephemeral nature of fresh hop beer. The competition performs the fresh hop judging in two stages, early and late harvest. Again, to account for the ephemeral nature of fresh hop beer. The Early Harvest competition recently concluded. We share the results below. We will share the results of the Late Harvest competition when they’re announced.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, where the vast majority of the nation’s hop crop is grown, hops are harvested from early August through mid/late October. Some hop varieties are typically ready for harvest earlier than others—Strata and Centennial, for instance, are considered early varieties. Also, Oregon-grown hops tend to ‘come ready earlier than the rest. This first round of the Best of Craft Beer Awards fresh hop judging involves beers that were created using early harvest hops.
Best of Craft Beer Awards Fresh Hop, Early Harvest Winners
We will add the Late Harvest winners once they are announced.
Category: Fresh Hop IPA
Gold: Wild Ride Brewing (OR), Journey to a New Strata-Sphere.
Silver: Stoup Brewing (WA), Fresh Hop Fiend Strata.
Bronze: Fort George Brewing (OR), Fresh IPA.
Category: Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
Gold: Irrelevant Beer Co (WA) collab w/ Great Notion (OR), True Love Waits.
Silver: McMenamins St Francis (OR), Little Green Bag.
Bronze: Varietal Beer Co (WA), SIM
Category: Fresh Hop Pale of Hazy Pale
Gold: Trap Door Brewing (WA), Co-Hop.
Silver: Lucky Envelope Brewing (WA), Strata Hazy.
Bronze: Single Hill Brewing (WA), Oregon Shortcut.
Category: Fresh Hop Lagers
Gold: Lucky Envelope Brewing (WA), Lorien Fresh Hop Pilsner.
Silver: Taproom Beer Co. (CA), Church of Chill.
Bronze: Zoiglhaus Brewing (OR), Fresh Hop Super Pils 2.0.
Category: Fresh Hop Other
Gold: Fort George Brewery (OR) collab w/ Hop Butcher (IL), Fresh Pierogis.
Silver: Fortside Brewing (OR), Fresh Cut.
Bronze: Funky Fauna Artisan Ales (OR), Glee of 1000 Otters.
Bonkers for fresh hop beers? We are co-hosting a Fresh Hop Festival with Beveridge Place Pub on October 11th. Details here.
