I picked up a growler of the soon-to-be-released Thundercone Fresh Hop Ale from McMenamins Old St. Francis School today, courtesy of McMenamins:

It’s slated to be released this Friday, September 19, but I got the sneak preview (though I haven’t cracked this growler yet—had plans this evening!). Each year the brewing of Thundercone is heralded by the “Running of the Brewers,” celebrating the hop harvest with 1000 pounds of fresh hops “frantically delivered from Sodbuster Farms… to 22 McMenamins Breweries all over Washington and Oregon.” This year the fresh hops used were Brewer’s Gold (as opposed to Cascade in previous years).

Fresh hop season is one of my favorite times of the “beer year” and I always hunt down as many as I can find. I’m definitely looking forward to pouring a pint of this one, it’s always one of the good ones out there (OSF brewer Mike White knows his stuff). I’ll post about it when I do.

Incidentally, the other fresh hop beer being offered at the Old St. Francis School, Mr. Peacock’s Special Bitter Fresh Hop Ale, is on tap now! This is an OSF-only house beer brewed with Fuggles and Mt. Hood hops hand-picked from the D&D Ranch out in Terrebonne (northern Central Oregon).