This year 65 breweries submitted 165 fresh hop beers for the annual Washington Fresh Hop Beer Awards. The beers were evaluated by a panel of expert judges using a blind-tasting format following the Brewer’s Association’s Style Guidelines. Medals were awarded in nine different style categories. The winners were announced on October 17th at The Growler Guys in Seattle. I share the list of winning breweries and beers below.
As far as I know, the Washington Fresh Hop Beer Awards is the world’s largest fresh hop beer judging competition. (Let me know if I am wrong.) The equivalent competition in Oregon is also pretty robust. We do not know which breweries did and did not submit beers; we only know which beers won. Icicle Brewing of Leavenworth deserves a special mention: it brewed three fresh hop beers and all three earned medals. The following breweries won two medals each: Cloudburst Brewing, Old Stove Brewing, Ravenna Brewing, and Single Hill Brewing.
Winners of the larger Washington Beer Awards, which judges beers in dozens of style categories, will be announced at an awards dinner on November 4th, part of the Washington Craft Beer Summit. Read more about that event, and how you can attend, here.
Washington Fresh Hop Beer Awards Winners
Fresh Hop Lagers:
Gold: Lucky Envelope Brewing – Fresh Hop Lorien Pilsner
Silver: Stoup Brewing – Fresh Hop Fiend Citra Italian Pils
Bronze: Cloudburst Brewing – Wet Hop Keller Pils
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Fresh Hop American-Style Pale Ales:
Gold: Ladd & Lass Brewing – Fresh Hop Pale Ale – Perrault Mosaic
Silver: Icicle Brewing Company – Dragontail Fresh Hop
Bronze: Single Hill Brewing Company – Six Sisters
Fresh Hop Juicy or Hazy Pale Ales:
Gold: Old Stove Brewing – Citra Hazy Pale
Silver: Icicle Brewing Company – Luminosa Fresh Hop
Bronze: Icicle Brewing Company – Alpenhaze Fresh Hop
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Fresh Hop American-Style Strong Pale Ales:
Gold: Single Hill Brewing Company – Energy Cone
Silver: Old Stove Brewing – Strata WC IPA
Bronze: Reuben’s Brews – Fresh Hop Crikey IPA
Fresh Hop Juicy or Hazy Strong Pale Ales:
Gold: Logan Brewing Company – So Hop Right Now
Silver: Cloudburst Brewing – Finding Wetness
Bronze: Georgetown Brewing Co – Lofty
Fresh Hop American-Style India Pale Ales:
Gold: Bale Breaker Brewing Company – Citra Slicker Fresh Hop IPA
Silver: Ravenna Brewing – Wet Season: Strata
Bronze: Formula Brewing – Cone Shattered Dreams
Fresh Hop West Coast-Style India Pale Ales:
Gold: Vice Beer – Fresh Hop Dot Matrix
Silver: Trap Door Brewing – Fresher Than Fresh
Bronze: Grains Of Wrath Brewing – Destination Funeral IPA
Fresh Hop Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ales:
Gold: Irrelevant Beer – Indifferent Life
Silver: Hellbent Brewing – Mid Harvest Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
Bronze: Echoes Brewing Company – Galactic Haze Fresh Hop
Other Fresh Hop Ales:
Gold: Varietal Beer Company – Hyperion
Silver: Ravenna Brewing – Wet Season: Mosaic
Bronze: Scuttlebutt Brewing Company – Home Grown Hero Kolsch
