The hop harvest seems to be ready early this year: both Deschutes Brewery and 10 Barrel Brewing this week are brewing fresh hop beers, 10 Barrel in real-time even as I write this.

On Tuesday, Veronica Vega (brewer at the Deschutes Pub in Bend) tweeted, “The first fresh hops of the harvest season are 5 minutes from @DeschutesBeer bend pub!!!” and posted a picture of the Centennial hops from Goschie Farms going into the beer.

And over on 10 Barrel’s Facebook page, they’re posting photos and updates of today’s fresh hop brew. For instance:

Today we are brewing our first Fresh Hop Harvest Ale and will be keeping you updated all day on the process. To brew it properly it is best to pick the hops the day of the brew. Jimmy left his house at 3:30 this morning and is driving over to the valley to hand pick our hops. Go Jimmy!

Truck Loaded…

Fresh Hops have landed at brewery and are going into the kettle and Hop Back! Jimmy is stoked on the quality of hops he picked!

Fresh hop beer season is one of my favorite times of the year!