Festivals, tap-takeovers, and pop-up beer gardens featuring the freshest of the freshies
(Updated, and reorganized the data as the season progresses.)
Not so long ago, it was easy for me to post a story about breweries producing fresh hop beers. They were still pretty rare. Only a handful of breweries produced the stuff. Nowadays, who doesn’t brew fresh hop beer? Trying to track all that action is more than I can handle.
What I can do is share info about special events focused on fresh hop beers, like festivals, tap-takeovers, and stuff like that. That’s what I’m doing here. If you know about a fresh hop event of some sort that I missed, let me know and I’ll add it to the list, or you can just leave a comment.
The events that I mention below provide an opportunity to taste fresh hop beers side by side. There will be plenty of bars and breweries rotating fresh hop beers through their draft lineups, but the following provide an opportunity for side-by-side tasting without having to order a full pour.
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Beyond what I mention below, I recommend following your favorite breweries and bars on social media and keeping an eye out for fresh hop releases.
FRESH HOP EVENTS IN THE PNW (2022)
The Beer Junction turns over 12 taps to fresh hop beers starting on Wednesday, October 5th. Get ’em until they’re gone. As always, you can get taster trays. They’ll sneak some fresh hop beers into the rotation leading up to the event. Keep an eye on the live tap list.
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The Keg and I is excited for our Fresh Hops Tap Takeover starting Friday, Oct. 7th and going until the beer is gone! Starting with 7 taps of Fresh Hops from variety of Washington brewers. We are sure to have one for you! Probably 2! Come enjoy our dog friendly patios and Fresh Hops selections! The Keg and I, 1291 Chimacum Rd, Chimacum, WA 98325.
The Growler Guys (Seattle) – FRESHTIVAL 2022 – THE HOPS WON’T STOP! “Over a 5 to 6 week-long period we acquire and share with our Guests one F/H keg after the next. It’s a little crazy and a LOT of fun!“ See our post about the WA Beer Awards, fresh hop awards.
Each day new kegs and cans arrive from the likes of Breakside, Reuben’s, Fort George, Crux, Ravenna, Seapine, Bale Breaker, Silver City, Matchless, Stoup, Single Hill, Mirage, Fremont, Chainline, Hellbent, Ex Novo, Structures, pFriem, Aslan and 20 more. Brewers appreciate the fact that we tap their kegs as fast as we can after arrival; we tap some F/H beers the SAME night they were kegged.”
“Fresh Hop Flights are the way to start and are $10.99. Check Facebook for Fresh Hop BREWERY SPOTLIGHT Events under our Hops Tunnel or on the long table. Talk to the Brewers about how they chose and acquired these hops and brewed it.”
Five Rights Brewing – “Freshies and Friends 2022 , October 6-8th. A celebration of fresh hops at 5 Rights Brewing Company featuring fresh hop beers from 11 breweries around Washington and Oregon. Brewery list for this year includes Breakside Brewery, Haywire Brewing, In the Shadow Brewing, Reuben’s Brews, Single Hill Brewing, Sound to Summit Brewing, Skookum Brewery, Stemma Brewing, Varietal Beer, Von Ebert Brewing and Wandering Hop Brewing. Tickets are $20 and are available at the door. Ticket price includes 5 @ 5 oz. tasters and 20 oz. souvenir glass. Additional tasters, half and full pours of all fresh hop beers available to ticket holders. Hours are Thursday and Friday 2PM-close and Saturday Noon-close. 5 Rights kitchen will be open serving pretzels and homemade beer cheese, chili and other tasty Fall seasonal foods. Come on out to the ‘Ville and celebrate this amazing time of year with us.”
Seattle Fresh Hop Festival – October 7th and 8th. Two days of live entertainment, games, and fresh hop beers. Event takes place at Magnuson Park’s Hangar 30, in the Sand Point neighborhood. This is the city’s largest fresh hop event, featuring the most breweries.
Yakima Fresh Hop Ale Festival – October 8th. This the big daddy hop fest. Where better to celebrate fresh hop beer than the heart of hop country, where 75 percent of the nation’s hops are grown? There’s something special about this one. It’s a community vibe sort of thing.
Check out the Washington Beer Blog’s events page for more beer-related events around Washington.
Fresh Hop Pop-Up Beer Fest – Portland’s pop-up fresh hop event returns to the Prost! Marketplace on N. Mississippi Avenue (September 16th through October 2nd). Within that timeframe, they have some special events planned. The fresh hop beer garden is open daily until 10:00 P.M.
Beveridge Place Pub will start mixing fresh hop beers into the rotation as soon as they’re available. Then, on September 29th, they’ll dedicate at least a dozen taps to fresh hop beers. Taster trays available for side-by-side beer comparison. Keep an eye on the tap list.
Hood River Fresh Hops Fest – October 1st. This is the 18th year for this event. I’m not sure fresh hop beers were a thing 18 years ago, but today that’s what this event is all about. Beers from more than 30 breweries on the streets of downtown Hood River.
