I fell behind a bit in my quest to document all the fresh hop beers I tried this year with this lightning round-style reviews, but I’m close to finishing up. I don’t know if anyone’s still drinking fresh hops now that it’s mid-November but I still do see some on the shelves, so I’m gonna run with it.

Wild Ride Brewing – Journey to a New Strata-Sphere Fresh Hop IPA

The “Journey” series has been out now for a few years, and last year it got upgraded from “Journey to Planet Fresh-Hop” to “Strata-Sphere” using, obviously, Strata hops. I don’t have much more info on this one, other than it was released mid-September.

It’s 6.3% ABV with 35 IBUs. No package date, but I drank it September 30. My notes:

Amber colored, bright, fairly clear. Slightly sweaty, orange tropical fruit aromas (papaya, dried mango); light spicy note—chive blossom? Flavor has a pleasant savory bitterness like calendula or other herb, along with some carrot top greens. Really good malt flavor too, toasty amber lager-like, lifts the herbal fresh lupulin nicely, though overall it’s not as “big” as some of these others.

Matchless Brewing – Easy Being Green Fresh Hop Hazy IPA

This Kermit the Frog-inspired name and label from the Tumwater, Washington brewery was brewed with fresh Strata hops from the state’s Roy Farms. Spoiler alert, this was one of the least “fresh hop” of this year’s beers that I tried.

No idea of the ABV, though Untappd says it’s 5% with 40 IBUs. It was packaged on September 6, I had it the 30th. Notes:

Dirty gold color, translucently hazy, white head. Almost no aroma here, which is surprising; what there is, is earthy with a dusting of hops. Flavor is really flat, too, and my main takeaway is corn—fresh corn, corn silk. It’s disappointing, and I don’t know if it’s just this can?

Breakside Brewery – Fresh Hop Wanderlust IPA

Breakside’s assembly line of fresh hop beers included the fresh version of its popular Wanderlust IPA, brewed with Cascade hops. No real description that I’ve seen for this other than that.

It’s 6.2% ABV with 50 IBUs, less that regular Wanderlust’s 62 IBUs. No package date that I wrote down, but I drank it October 2. My notes:

Pretty good color, slightly unfiltered look, good white head. Aroma is green and slightly sweaty, with spritz of lemon or tangerine zest and grapefruit juice. There’s a bright pop of dandelion bitterness, with grapefruit peel and lime leaves. Some pine, resin that’s a bit minty in its pungency, yet mellow. Nice, fresh.