For many people, this time of year signals the arrival of Pumpkin Beers and Oktoberfests, but for the hopheads out there fall is Harvest Ale Season. Harvest Ales, also called Fresh Hop or Wet Hop Ales, are brewed using hops picked fresh from the vines. Traditional beers use hops that are dried and often pelletized before adding to the brew, but Harvest Ales use hops that were picked in the last 24 hours. The logistics involved can be a bit tricky, but the resulting flavors are unique to Fresh Hop Beers. The fresh hopping process adds a more bright, crisp and vegetative flavor because most of the delicate hop oils are still intact when they enter the brew kettle. These beers are normally more simple so they can showcase the more subtle hop flavors present when fresh hopping.
The Fresh Hop style is becoming more popular in Pennsylvania because of the fast-growing hop farms popping up in the state. Independent farms specializing in hops are finding a growing demand for local beer ingredients. Pennsylvania’s wet springs and hot summers are very well-suited for growing American hops. The higher humidity in Pennsylvania makes powdery and downy mildew more of a threat than it is in the Pacific Northwest, but this is avoidable with proper care.
Pennsylvania hop farmers grow an assortment of different hop varieties, but the varieties that thrive the most tend to be American hops. Some farmers aren’t afraid to try growing something a little less conventional. Sunny Brae Hops, in Carlisle, grows an heirloom hop variety called Comet, which is a cross between English Sunshine hops and a native North American male hop. It is a versatile hop that can be used for bittering as well as aroma. When added in a brew as a late-boil addition it gives off the aroma of grapefruit, pineapple and orange.
To celebrate the Harvest Ale Season and the fast-growing number of Pennsylvania hop farms, I have compiled a round-up of some of the new Fresh Hop beers brewed using Pennsylvania hops. These beers are usually brewed in very small batches and sell out quickly, so try to grab them before they’re kicked!
Molly Pitcher Sunny Brae Harvest Ale Series
Molly Pitcher Brewing Company of Carlisle has recently created a series of Harvest Ales using Sunny Brae hops. Each beer is brewed when the hops are picked, and each hop is ready for harvest at different times, so these beers have been rolling out over the past few weeks. The first batch unveiled was brewed with Chinook hops and sold out in five hours. The second batch, brewed with Nugget, lasted a bit longer on the taps. The final batch, which will probably be kicked by the time you read this, was brewed using Comet hops.
The Sunny Brae Comet Harvest Ale used some Columbus hops for bittering, but Comet was the main star. Comet was used for all the late-boil additions including a continuous hop addition that lasted the final 30 minutes of the boil. The beer was also dry hopped with an entire pound of Comet, which is quite impressive since the entire batch was only 10 gallons. The end product had a bright and crisp palate containing flavors of grapefruit, pine and citrus.
Victory Vista Farms Harvest Ale
Victory Brewing Company created this beer for the first time last year using only Lehigh Valley-grown hops from Vista Farms. Because last year’s crop was small, it was not a super hoppy beer, but this year they tripled the amount of hops used to create this beer. This year’s batch is brewed with 100% Cascade hops and it is dry hopped for three weeks straight using Vista Farms’ entire harvest of Nugget hops. The resulting beer is full of citrus and floral aroma and flavor.
Tröegs Scratch #206 Sunny Brae Fresh Hop Ale
Tröegs Brewing Company, located in Hershey, brews a series of experimental one-off beers called their Scratch Series. Scratch #206 is a Fresh Hop Ale brewed using 52 pounds of fresh Cascade and Centennial hops from Sunny Brae Hops. Tröegs also used artisan malts from Deer Creek Malthouse of West Chester. What makes this beer really special is that Tröegs employees helped to plant and harvest the hops used in the brew.
Saucony Creek XReserve Harvest Moon Rye-sing
Saucony Creek Brewing Company was created with the idea that local is better, and they are continually striving to source as much of their beers as possible using local ingredients. A lot of the ingredients they use are grown on their own property, including the butternut squash used in Maple Mistress as well as the cucumber used in their Cucumber Kolsch. XReserve Harvest Moon Rye-sing is a Harvest Pale Ale brewed using fresh Cascade hops from Hop Hill Farm in New Jerusalem. This is an easy-drinking pale ale loaded with citrus flavor but nicely balanced by the spicy rye finish.
Philadelphia Brewing Company Harvest from the Hood
This Harvest Ale is a little different from the rest because the fresh hops used for it were not grown on a large swath of land in a rural setting. The majority of the hops used for Harvest from the Hood were all grown in Philadelphia. These hops were sourced from the brewery courtyard, from nearby Greensgrow Farms and from vines planted at Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Episcopal Church and O’Neals Pub in South Philadelphia. Philadelphia Brewing Company has been creating this Harvest Ale since 2008 and it is the easiest to find of all the Harvest Ales in this round-up, though it still sells rather fast!
Moo-Duck Brewery I’m A Farmer Pale Ale
Moo-Duck Brewery is a new small-batch brewery based out of Elizabethtown. They also worked with Sunny Brae Hops to harvest fresh Nugget and Chinook. Moo-Duck head brewer Mike Brubaker and Sunny Brae owner Adam Dellinger actually harvested the hops themselves for this beer. I’m A Farmer is a 5% ABV pale ale loaded with hop flavor. The Nugget and Chinook from Sunny Brae give off flavors and aromas of mango, tropical fruit, citrus and lemon.
Although Fresh Hop Ales are growing in number in Pennsylvania, there are still only a relatively small number of them out there compared to pumpkin beers and Oktoberfests. They are also brewed in much smaller batches since the logistics are difficult for getting hops from bine to kettle in 24 hours. This is in addition to the fact that fresh hopping uses more pounds of hops than a non-fresh hopped alternative. With the limited number of available Fresh Hop beers out there, I suggest you get hunting for a bottle or growler of your own. No one likes a Fresh Hop Ale that isn’t fresh!
- Top three photos: Nina Lea Photography
- Bottom and feature photos: Amy Strauss
