Oregon's Top Fresh Hop Beers Announced, WA's coming soon

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The Oregon Beer Awards conducted its fresh hop beer judging over the weekend. I share the results of below. The competition involves Oregon-brewed beers created using freshly harvested hops. Presumably, many of the beers were brewed using Oregon-grown hops, though I don’t think that is a requirement.

I presume many of the beers were brewed with Oregon hops because of the harvest windows involved and the date of the competition. Oregon’s hop harvest begins earlier than Washington’s, so it makes sense that these Oregon-brewed fresh hop beers were more likely to use Oregon-grown hops. The term fresh hop beer typically implies that the hops were used within 24 hours of the time they were harvested. These beers also tend to exhibit their best quality while they are still fresh. It’s an ephemeral thing. Many, but not all, Washington-grown hops weren’t ready when these Oregon beers were brewed. That is a generalization, but it is worth noting.

Like the harvest, the Washington Beer Awards Fresh Hop Competition also lags a bit behind Oregon. Here in Washington, brewers are just now submitting their beers (October 9th deadline) and the judging panel convenes this coming weekend (October 12th). We’ll have results for you next week. See last year’s results here. The results will be announced on October 17th in Seattle at The Growler Guys.

Similarities and Differences, Oregon and Washington

The 2024 Oregon Beer Awards saw 137 fresh hop beers from 47 Oregon breweries submitted for the competition.
The 2023 Washington Beer Awards® Fresh Hop Competition saw 157 fresh hop beers, brewed by 68 Washington breweries, submitted for judging. The 2024 competition will likely see the judges contend with an even larger field. (If there’s a larger fresh hop beer competition, I haven’t heard about it.)
The Oregon Beer Awards hands out medals in three categories: Pale Ale and IPA, Hazy Pale Ale and Hazy IPA, and Other.
Washington Beer Awards Fresh Hop Competition hands out awards in eight different categories.

Oregon Beer Awards Fresh Hop Winners

Pales and IPAs (62 entries)
Gold – Living Häus Dino (Citra, collab with Ghost Town)
Silver – Baerlic Fresh Hop Splishy IPA (Krush/HBC 586)
Bronze – Bend Brewing Fresh Hop Mega Pint (Mosaic )

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Hazy Pales and IPAs (33 entries)
Gold – Von Ebert Fresh Hop Sector 7 (Krush/HBC 586)
Silver- Fort George Fresh Hop Fields of Green (Citra)
Bronze – StormBreaker Set Freshies To Haze

Other Beers (42 entries)
Gold – Binary Cones of Lórien (pilsner)
Silver – Hetty Alice Fresh Hopped Italian Pils (Lórien)
Bronze – Oak Union Fresh Hop Green Idol (Strata, West Coast Pilsner)

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