Fresh hop beer news from Portland’s Migration Brewing! The brewery is planning to release five fresh hop beers this season, starting with Fresh Outta Portland Fresh Hop IPA, which is out now. That’s the only one available in cans this year; the other four will be draft only at the Migration pubs.

Press release with details:

Celebrating the harvest season, the Portland, OR-based craft brewery proudly honors this annual event with highest quality hops in the region. Direct from local farms, hops are brought by the brewing team and used almost immediately. Indie Hops, Crosby Hop Farm, Coleman, Goschie Farms, and YCH/BC Farms are all partners who provided fresh hop varietals to the 2022 lineup.

“We continue to feel blessed that we live here in the Willamette Valley, an absolutely incredible region and resource for us,” said Mike Branes, Co-Founder and Brewmaster at Migration Brewing. “Our Fresh Hop beers represent our spirit and love of brewing, but also the love and care that our hop partners put into their product. It allows us to do some of our best work as brewers and every year our beer drinkers express their appreciation. It’s a dream.” notes Branes.

Below are details for each of this season’s Fresh Hop beers. Target release dates may move up.

Fresh Outta Portland
Style: Fresh Hop IPA
ABV: 7.3% | IBU: 69
Release Date: 9/1

All that you love about Straight Outta Portland, with an amplified hit of fresh Strata hops. Lots of tropical notes of passionfruit intertwined with resiny dank aromas. This year’s version of Fresh Outta Portland highlights a few of our favorite partners in the industry. Brewed with 500+ lb of Strata from Goschie Farms picked just a week ago (we blended together 7 batches) that were nitrogen frozen and put directly into the packaging tank. Pale and Vienna malt offer a medium body and a clean white head.  Our largest volume of Fresh Outta Portland ever produced, 25% more volume than last year.

Fresh Outta Portland can be found in 6 packs/12oz cans at most local grocery or beer specialty outlets around town, as well as several local restaurants and pubs. Of course it is also available on draft and 6 packs at all Migration pubs.

Into the Light Lager
Style:  Fresh Hop Lager
ABV: 5.1% | IBU:  15
Release Date: 9/8

A contemporary American-style Pilsner, this style of beer should be a brilliant straw golden color with subtle hop haze. The name references one of the newest varieties from Indie Hops, Luminosa. With a bright and clear appearance and medium-low to medium malt presence, the hop flavor and aroma should be pronounced.  Traditional aromas of noble-type hops but this style can also exhibit attributes of a wide range of hop varieties with medium to high perceived bitterness. DMS, acetaldehyde, fruity esters, and diacetyl should not be present.  There is a clean honey-like, cracker character to this beer.  Dry and crisp, almost all of the hops were added cold-side.  A big dry hop of Strata presents big diesel and passionfruit qualities.  Fresh Luminosa hops were frozen at our Shop brewery and added to the bright tank.  A newly released hop from our good friends at Indie Hops, it contributes notes of Peach-mango lemonade, candied orange peel, boysenberry, papaya and guava. Into the Light Luminosa Lager can only be found on draft at Migration pubs.

Summer Chinook Pale
Style:  Fresh Hop Pale Ale
ABV: 5.7% | IBU:  24
Release Date: 9/8

Like the running of Summer Chinook salmon through the Columbia River Gorge, we honor that heritage by creating this Salmon Safe beer. Using the summer ale as a base style, we wanted to amplify it to accentuate fresh hop flavors of our Oregon hop terroir.  Using Salmon Safe malts and hops, this light easy drinking beer is a perfect end of summer crusher.  Two Row and White Wheat malts lay the sweet bready foundation for this beer.  Oregon grown Centennial hops provide nice pithy citrus notes (orange, grapefruit) with a hint of pine.  Fresh Chinook hops were then nitro frozen and crushed at our Shop brewery and added to the brite tank where the beer sat on it overnight.  Additional grapefruit and cedar flavor and aromas contribute to the overall experience. Summer Chinook Pale can only be found on draft at Migration pubs.

ReFRESH Hazy IPA
Style: Hazy IPA
ABV: 6.3% | IBU:  22
Release Date: 9/15

A big aggressively hopped Hazy IPA, with a golden color and loads of hop aroma and flavor.

Taking a similar grain bill to our award winning MoHazeIc, we transitioned this beer as a showcase for Amarillo hops from Crosby Hop Farms that were nitrogen frozen to capture that farm fresh flavor and aroma, most notably freshly harvested and direct from the farm into our tanks within an hour.  Once at the brewery, we nitrogen freeze the hops and pulverize them to expose the lupulin glands within the hops.  We try to capture that quintessential hop aroma from the field and put it into the glass.  Bright aromas of grapefruit and orange zest intermingle with a dry hop of Citra and Galaxy (notes of mango, candied orange, and passionfruit). ReFRESH Hazy IPA can be found on draft at limited bars and restaurants where Migration is sold, and on draft at Migration Pubs.

Beer Board Name: Fresh Coast MOSAIC IPA
Style: West Coast IPA
ABV: 6.7% | IBU:  55
Release Date: 10/6

We are bringing back our 2021 Oregon Beer Awards Silver Medal winning beer. A clean light malt structure allows for a showcase of freshly harvested Mosaic hops from BC Hop Ranch in Woodburn, Oregon.  Mostly 2Row base malt with a sprinkling of Vienna and Wheat malts, the bright golden colored beer allows for the fresh hops to be at the forefront.  Harvested in the morning, these Mosaic hops showcase their punchy blueberry and candied orange/subtle tropical notes.  These hops were added to our mash tun, which was used as a giant hopback to steep the hops to extract all of their essence.  After fermentation, we dry hopped with a more Mosaic to reinforce those Mosaic notes, as well as some New Zealand Nectaron (fleshy peach notes) and Amarillo (ruby red grapefruit notes) Fresh Coast can only be found on draft at Migration pubs.

About Migration Brewing

Migration Brewing started in 2010 when four friends came together over a passion for craft beer and a dream of opening a brewpub. With a lot of bootstrapping and a little luck, they have since opened four pub locations within Portland. As an award-winning brewery, the Migration team takes great pride in producing world-class beers that embrace innovation while respecting classic styles.

And there are plenty more fresh hop beers on the way as well, this is just getting started.