Taste the Harvest: Your Guide to This Year’s Fresh Hop Beers

The countdown is on! It’s a mad dash to capture the fleeting flavor of freshly-picked hops. As the hop harvest kicks into high gear, brewers have only hours to get these delicate cones from the bine to the brew kettle. This is how they lock in the vibrant, “green” essence of the hop at its absolute peak.

Ready to taste the magic of the harvest season? We’ve rounded up a list of fresh hop beers from all over Colorado so you can get a taste of this one-of-a-kind yearly phenomenon!

FRESH HOP EVENTS

SEPT. 20
SOUTHWEST FRESH FEST & HOP PICKING PARTY

Ready to go all in on fresh hops this season? Mark your calendar for September 20th and head to Billy Goat Hop Farm in Montrose for their Southwest Fresh Fest & Picking Party! This is your chance to party on a real hop farm outside of Montrose, where you can sip on seasonal fresh hop beers from local brewers. Plus, there will be live music, food trucks, and more!

FRESH HOP BEER RELEASES

Base Camp Beer Works | Grand Junction | Goat to Glass

This 5.5% ABV Hoppy Pilsner is brewed with several Cascade, Comet, and Copper fresh hop varieties from Billy Goat Hop Farm.

Comrade Brewing | Aurora | Fresh Hop Superpower IPA

Comrade’s flagship Superpower IPA is brewed with hundreds of pounds of Strata from Crosby Hops in Oregon that were delivered to the brewery less than 18 hours after they were picked. This beer releases on September 20 and will be available on draft at the taproom as well as at select accounts around town.

Diebolt Brewing Company | Denver | Hop Squaster IPA

Releasing on Saturday, Sept. 12 is Diebolt’s Hop Squaster IPA which comes in just in time for their 12th anniversary party. This fresh hop IPA features Colorado grown Cascade hops.

Full Frame Beer | Denver | FRESH

This 5.7% ABV Fresh Hop Pale Ale is brewed with 100 pounds of fresh Chinook from Billy Goat Hop Farm, and dry-hopped with Chinook, Citra, and Cascade and made with Troubadour Malt. Expect a Classic Colorado-style Pale Ale with notes of grapefruit, citrus, and dankness that is easy drinking. This beer releases on September 13 along with a special fresh hop firkin tapping the same day.

Green Mountain Beer Company | Lakewood | Did it all for the Chinookie

A robust double IPA that comes in at 9% ABV and is brewed with fresh Chinook hops from Billy Goat farms in Montrose. Expect notes of floral and malty sweet with medium bitterness.

Joyride Brewing Company | Edgewater | Fresh Budz

Joyride worked with Billy Goat Hop Farm in Montrose to hand deliver their award-winning Cascade hops straight off the bine before dry hopping with select Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe cryo hops. Wet hops impart a much different flavor and aroma than traditional dry hops, and since harvest only comes once a year, there’s only one batch, so drink up while it’s here. This fresh hop IPA comes in at 7% ABV.

Mountain Tap Brewery | Steamboat Springs | Picking Fresh Hops & Elkstone Elixir

Mountain Tap Brewery’s Picking Fresh Hops features hops from Billy Goat Hop Farm in Montrose that were added to the brew within 12 hours of being harvested! This one is a fresh hop AND fresh malt beer, brewed with freshly roasted malt from Root Shoot Malting. It weighs in at 6.1%. Elkstone Elixir is a fresh hop pilsner that showcases hops harvested just up the road from Mountain Tap at Elkstone Farm in Steamboat Springs. Both brewers and farmers harvested the hops then added them to the brew within hours of being plucked from the bines. It measures 5.2% ABV.

Mythmaker Brewing | Fort Collins | The Embalmer

This 6.5% ABV West Coast Style IPA is brewed with fresh Magic Pilsner malt from Root Shoot Malting and fresh Amarillo Hops from Crosby Hops. This beer will be available on September 27.

New Terrain Brewing | Golden | Fresh Prints

New Terrain visited Voss Farms in Arvada and hand-picked nearly 150 pounds of fresh Chinook hops for the brewery’s annual fresh hop IPA, Fresh Prints. This limited 6.7% ABV IPA has a powerful dank and piney nose that awakens your senses before it treats your palate with delightfully floral and pleasantly fresh hop characteristics. So dank. So fresh. So good!

Odell Brewing Company | Fort Collins | Strata Fresh Hop IPA

This is a special beer in which a few lucky raffle winners picked from Odell’s email subscriber list got to come in and experience the process. In collaboration with Indie Hop Flavor Project who provided fresh Strata hops from Oregon that was picked at 4 a.m. and in the beer by 2 p.m. the same day. This 5.2% ABV beer has notes of orange, apricot, mango, cherry, and passion fruit.

Our Mutual Friend Brewing | Denver | Fresh Hop Pale Ale & Fresh Hop IPA

Releasing on September 13 is Fresh Hop Pale Ale, a 5% ABV beer that has local malt and cascade hops from Billy Goat Hop Farm. Releasing on September 27 is Fresh Hop IPA, which includes fresh Citra hops flown in from Oregon and comes in at 7% ABV.