More fresh hop beer reviews to keeps the wheels turning! This batch starts off with my homebrew, so let’s jump in.

Desert Sage Brewing – Desert Harvest Fresh Hop Ale (Homebrew)

I haven’t brewed much beer at home this year, but I did have enough ingredients on hand to brew my annual Desert Harvest Fresh Hop Ale with hops growing on my fence—Santiam this time. (My other hops didn’t do as well for some reason this year.) So of course, I’m gonna review it!

For the interested, here’s the recipe:

• 9 pounds Pilsner malt
• 0.5 ounces Cluster pellet hops @ 60 minutes
• 2 ounces my own Santiam hops (last year’s, whole, dried) @ 30 minutes
• 29 ounces fresh Santiam hops @ 5 minutes/knockout for whirlpool
• Kveik yeast

It’s a single infusion mash for 60 minutes at 150°F. The kveik yeast fermented it quickly and warm, something like 36 hours. Original gravity was 1.048, final gravity 1.004, for an approximate alcohol by volume of 5.82%. My spreadsheet calculations estimate 55 IBUs.

Appearance: Lighter golden color, homebrew haze, creamy white head.

Smell: Earthy-green, fruity esters, wet grass, maybe a very light spicy-citrusy fir note. Mellow nose overall.

Taste: Slightly spicy, green leafy notes with chlorophyll, a spritz of green apple, and fresh sorrel mixed in with fresh-cut grass. Kveik gives it a lot of esters that seem to complement the hops pretty well. Some bitterness that’s got some mild woodiness to it, but it’s not bad.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and fairly smooth.

Overall: I’m really happy with this one!

Sunriver Brewing – Fresh Hop Fuzztail Hefeweizen

Another growler of fresh hop beer! This time it was Sunriver’s Fuzztail that got the fresh hop treatment, and I wanted to try it because it used fresh Cascade hops—both the style and the hops stood out from the rest at this point in the year. It’s 5% ABV with 20 IBUs, and the description from Untappd says:

This version of our award-winning American-style hefeweizen features freshly harvested Cascade hops, provided to us by our friends at Coleman Agriculture in St. Paul, OR. These amazing freshies drop huge notes of ruby red grapefruit, evergreen forest, and blooming wildflowers.

Appearance: Cloudy golden hefe look, translucent, good white head.

Smell: Bready, yeasty, the hops don’t come through the aroma that much that I can detect; there’s some grapefruit juice and wildflower.

Taste: Some vibrancy in flavor with gently piney greens, bitters grapefruit peel and zest, and a hint of wintergreen that’s an almost-eucalyptus flavor. “Fresh” feeling that’s clean with that subtle piney mint.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with yeasty, pillowy hefeweizen mouthfeel.

Overall: It’s an interesting one, mellow but the flavor is somewhat unique.

Cascade Lakes Brewing – Koosah Fresh Hop IPA

Cascade Lakes’ Koosah returns for its second year; it’s named for Koosah Falls on the McKenzie River and was brewed with fresh Centennial hops. It’s the first of two that the brewery released this year; the other was Watkins Fresh Hop Pale Ale, available on draft. Koosah’s description from Untappd says:

This awe-inspired IPA features Oregon-grown Centennial hops harvested fresh off the bine. Added to the kettle within hours of being picked to exclude all the natural floral and citrusy deliciousness this wonderful hop has to offer.

It’s 6.1% ABV with 60 IBUs.

Appearance: Bright copper color, moderate clarity, good dense off-white head.

Smell: Fresh hay, damp meadow, some fir (needle) notes. Nice underlying malts with some caramel in there. Not too fragrant but it’s nice even so.

Taste: Peppery greens with a pine resin bitterness that’s lively and pungent on the tongue and legit what I’d call minty, particularly into the aftertaste. Fresh foraged wild greens with a bitter note, but also savory and peppery.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with a good fresh pop into the finish.

Overall: This is quite tasty, with a nice pungency.