Fresh Hops
This year we are very excited to bring back our FRESH HOP Rye Pale Ale. The last time we brewed this beer was in 2019!
We finally got our ducks in a row and made it happen. Fresh hop brews require a fair bit of logistics, including:
- They have to brewed during the hop harvest (fall for the northern hemisphere)
- Once the fresh hops are picked they have to be used in a beer within 24 hours
- They take up a lot of space in the kettle!
When you add the Yukon to the mix, since we are not a hop growing region, hops have to be shipped up north. It's much easier for a brewery in southern BC to simply go to the hop farm themselves, and pick up the hops and drive them back to their brewery on brew day.
All hand on deck to fit those hops in the kettle.
Big thanks to Hops Connect, our hops dealer in BC for getting us hops from one of their farms, and to Air North for their awesome cargo service! Since we hadn't brewed this beer since we started canning, we had to get a can label desigend as well. Mary, our designer, did a banger job as usual!
Mary Binsted's latest can design!
We stuck with the original recipe, a rye pale ale. We used 13% rye in the grain bill to give it a light earthiness and spicyness (think black pepper). The hops are Centennial hops from the Fraser Valley and they smelled divine in the brewhouse. We are really excited to see how this beer turns out. Look for it on tap and in cans in early October!
Centennial hops, a classic American hop variety. Credit: @PintsandPanels aka Em Sauter.