Fresh hop season is strong this year, and beers are still coming out. Here are the next three that I’ve had so far, with my notes.

Sunriver Brewing – Fresh Hop Vicious Mosquito IPA

Sunriver’s fresh hop beers are always top-notch, and the fresh hop version of Vicious Mosquito was the first one (of many) out this year. It’s brewed with Centennial hops, and I pulled this description from Untappd:

Enjoy this version of our flagship IPA brewed with freshly harvested Centennial hops, provided to us by our friends at Crosby Hop Farm in Woodburn, OR. Harvested from Crosby’s Top Wire hop field, these wet wonders deliver big floral notes of grapefruit juice, lime blossom and pine needles.

It’s 7% ABV with 70 IBUs, available both on draft and in cans.

Appearance: Darker gold, bright, with decent clarity. Good white head.

Smell: Bright nose with papaya, candied grapefruit, fresh radish greens, watercress. Great hop aroma with some sweet bun maltiness.

Taste: Fresh bitter greens that are slightly spicy, slightly menthol-like with a minty-peppery bloom at the back. Pine, wet forest floor, clean and toasty malt for a touch of sweetness that complements the greens. Really tasty.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, lingering menthol-ic greens flavor, leaving slightly minty aftertaste.

Overall: Excellent beer, it’s super drinkable and quite fresh.

Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery – Strata Fresh Hop

I don’t know much about this beer from Newberg’s Wolves & People, but it was available at On Tap (food truck lot and taproom) here in Bend, so I was able to get a growler filled. From what I can find, it’s basically a fresh hop farmhouse ale, fermented with kveik yeast. According to the short description on Untappd, it may also have been sitting in oak (former Pinot Blanc barrels).

It’s 5.9% and brewed with fresh Strata from Crosby Hops.

Appearance: Pale gold/yellow, unfiltered, with a white head that didn’t last.

Smell: Melon, musk, sweaty floral fresh greens, tomato plant; it’s fairly pungent, a touch catty, floral, spicy-herbal.

Taste: The fresh hops go really well with the spritzy almost-tart oaky note of the base farmhouse ale, with big fruity kveik ester character. Green fruits, melon rind, some lamb’s quarter, hints of oaky tannins, a really nice “fresh” character that’s got some bright berry, sweaty/musky notes, overripe stone fruit. It’s compellingly tasty!

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body—fairly bright and spritzy on the tongue, with lingering estery fruity finish.

Overall: Really good, this one surprised me to be honest.

Little Beast Brewing – Green Keeper Fresh Hop Pale Ale

Portland’s Little Beast brews a couple of fresh hop ales, and Green Keeper is usually the first to be released. It’s a pale ale with 5.2% ABV, and brewed with fresh Centennials.

The website description says:

Green Keeper is the quintessential American Craft Beer. An American Pale Ale made with Pale and Munich malts, it’s wet hopped with fresh Centennial hops only an hour from the fields. It’s truly homegrown!

Appearance: Yellow-gold with unfiltered haziness. Big lacy white head.

Smell: Relatively light, and grassy—fresh cut hay. Some very light orange; it’s floral and makes me thing of yellow wildflowers.

Taste: Big herbal bitterness (for a pale), going toward fresh cut milk thistle or dandelion, which also gives it a slightly spicy character (white peppercorn). Bitterness lingers and there’s a hint of fresh pine.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied though it’s a touch light, with a lingering herbal bitterness.

Overall: It’s good, offering up a slightly different Centennial hop experience than others I’ve had so far.