Growth of fresh-hop beers brings logistical challenges

It’s a pain brewing a beer with fresh, rather than kilndried, hops.

After all, farmers have a limited window to pick hops at their peak — three or four days — says Off Color Brewing’s John Laffler, who recently released Aqua Predator, a fresh-hop version of its Apex Predator farmhouse ale. That means brewers have to carve out time, so that they’re ready to brew whenever the hop farmer says the yield is ready.

Once those hops are ready, everyone has to hustle because hop flavors and aromas fade quickly — after roughly 24 hours or so, says Great Divide’s Jacob Johnson, who produced the brewery’s Fresh Hop, a pale ale, this year. To get the Citra and Simcoe hops it used in this year’s Fresh Hop, Great Divide hired two-driver truck teams that share the driving load to ensure they could make the roughly 1,200-mile journey from Washington state’s Yakima Valley to Denver as fast as possible. Chicago-based Off Color, which usually gets the Crystal hops it uses in Apex Predator from Oregon, had to use Crystal hops from Hop Head Farms in Michigan to ensure that they’d be in prime condition.

While the truckers are still en route, brewers start brewing, adding the hops when they arrive.

Even so, there are more challenges. One hundred pounds of kiln-dried pelletized hops fits in a bag the size of a UPS box, while 100 pounds of wet hops takes up much more room — half a pallet or so. “Most breweries aren’t set up to deal with that volume,” Laffler says. That includes Off Color, which is why Laffler’s brewery bought a separate small tank to use as a hop back — a device that allows him to push wort from the kettle through the fresh-hop-filled hop back, before recirculating the beer back into the kettle.

The process is a “logistical nightmare,” Johnson says. But, he adds, “it’s worth it.”

Fresh-hop beers showcase a different side of hops. While pale ales and IPAs overloaded with kiln-dried hops can be overwhelmingly bitter, fresh-hop beers are more delicate, vibrant and — dare I say? — juicy. The difference is similar to the marked difference between fresh and dried herbs. While dried herbs are fine to use in a pinch, they don’t compare to the fresh stuff.

That’s why Off Color and a number of other breweries are expanding the range of fresh-hop beers from pale ale and India pale ales to farmhouse ales and even dunkelweizen.

But time is of the essence when it comes to fresh hop beers. While you’ll see them on the shelves now, they won’t be there long.

MICHAEL TERCHA/CHICAGO TRIBUNE Fresh-hop beers such as Great Divide Brewing Company’s Fresh Hop Pale Ale and Off Color Brewing’s Aqua Predator present special challenges for farmers and brewers.