Here we go with the third installment of this year’s fresh hop beer reviews.

Ferment Brewing – Fresh Hop Centennial Pale Ale

Fresh Hop Centennial is in Ferment Brewing’s Top Ferment beer series, clearly brewed with Centennial hops. The description says:

An American sweetheart since its 1990 release, Centennial hops epitomize craft beer with bold floral notes, juicy citrus, and fresh pine giving this light golden ale a distinctive nose and twang only obtainable from this beloved hop at harvest time.

The Hood River brewery sourced the hops from Coleman Agriculture, and the beer was an early release at the end of August. It’s 6% ABV.

Appearance: Gold-copper-orange with moderate haze. Ample off-white head.

Smell: This has a “wet” character that’s got watermelon (rind) for me, fresh dill, some chlorophyllic cut grass notes.

Taste: Pungent with more dill and watermelon rind, and somehow it totally works. There’s some pine, green pine/spruce light citrus notes (from the shoots), nice forest floor (duff) character with a bit of bitterness to balance the firm malt base. I still get residual fresh dill, but it’s not pickle-y, rather herbaceous and goes with the watermelon… curious and tasty.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a bit of residual maltiness and an herbaceous finish.

Overall: It’s unusual but really good!

Crux Fermentation Project – Pert Near Fresh Hop IPA

Crux once again used the relatively new McKenzie hops in its first fresh hop of the season, Pert Near. So far it’s the only McKenzie fresh hop beer I’m aware of as well. This IPA is 6.9% ABV with 50 IBUs, and the brewery says:

We love brewing with fresh hops and this year we’re excited to be brewing this early harvest IPA using the brand new McKenzie Hop developed by West Coast Hop Breeding. Exclusive to the Willamette Valley, this dank varietal brings jammy berry notes to the party alongside big tropical flavors and floral aromas. It’s pert near the first fresh hop beer you’ll enjoy this season while waiting for us to brew up a few more.

Appearance: Deep, bright copper color, nicely clear, with a lacy white head.

Smell: Spicy-dank greens, freshly crushed, with wild berries—loganberry, maybe mountain huckleberry, and some tobacco. It’s not too pungent, kind of muted, but what I get is quite “green” (“dark” green).

Taste: Freshly foraged greens, with some raw tobacco, kale, clover, and a low-key intensity of fresh, just-harvested flavors with a piney spice, but also a wintergreen note that gives it a “cooling” kind of freshness (hat tip to Ryan Sharp on this descriptor). It’s also got a great malt character that, with the hops, has a terrific moreish/toothsome quality.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, lightly spicy and sort of cooling.

Overall: Really, really good, hitting on all marks.

McMenamins – Fresh Hop Hammerhead

This one’s a fun one, a secret stash of small batch fresh hop Hammerhead! There’s some interesting backstory to this beer from McMenamins, which the company posted on Instagram:

This year @mcmenamins_breweries brewed up a very special batch of fresh-hopped Hammerhead in cans. Because of the urgency of keeping those hops fresh as can be, and the spontaneity of deciding to use some in Hammerhead, the fresh-hopped versions are only distinguishable via the stamp on the bottom of the can. Our team got to try some at yesterday’s Running of the Brewers and we think it’s WELL WORTH the hunt for these exclusive cans. You can look for them in giftshops and at some pubs.

So in theory the “secret” cans might be dispersed out in various pubs and sure enough, some came to Bend. Based on the Running of the Brewers comment, I assumed the fresh hops used were Mosaic (this year’s Thundercone variety) because I thought it meant extra Mosaic hops were thrown into a batch of Hammerhead. Actually though, I don’t really know what hops were used for sure; another Untappd entry lists Cascade.

Regardless, it’s 5.81% ABV, no mention of IBUs on the can but regular Hammerhead has 44. This was brewed at the Edgefield brewery in Troutdale.

Appearance: Deep (dark) copper, almost amber, unfiltered. Dense light tan head.

Smell: Fresh cut grass, summer meadow, some subtle stone fruit (peach). Touch of caramel, lupulin, but quite a mellow aroma overall.

Taste: Herbaceous and earthy, with some fir sap, and fresh dandelion greens, with perhaps a touch of celery leaf. It has the old school Hammerhead pale ale backbone, which I suspect draws out some of the earthiness. Minty-like at the back/finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with an earthy-minty finish.

Overall: Tasty and fun for a special small batch. Good classic pale ale with a nice herbaceous fresh hop character.