Over the years, no local brewer has shown more enthusiasm for fresh-hop beers than Tom Nickel (pictured above, top left). A former World Beer Cup Champion Brewer with a namesake brewery, Julian’s Nickel Beer Co., as well as a vaunted craft-beer bar, Kearny Mesa’s O’Brien’s Pub, he utilizes both come autumn to celebrate the consumable glory that comes each year during the hop-harvest season. Those fresh-hop (also referred to as wet-hop) beers, both of his own and others’ devising, incorporate just-picked whole-cone hops (versus the pellets, oils, and other hop extracts and products typically used outside of harvest season), which result in added aromas and more layered, complex flavor profiles.
While numerous local breweries produce a fresh-hop beer in the September-October hop-harvest timeframe, Nickel makes a point to brew several. This year, he crafted a whopping 11. A number of those pale ales and IPAs incorporated locally grown hops, and two were brewed outside of harvest season, a feat made possible thanks to frozen fresh hops procured from Yakima Chief Hops. In addition to being tapped at his brewery’s tasting room, Nickel’s in-season creations were among 32 fresh-hop beers tapped as part of O’Brien’s Pub’s annual Wet Hop Festival earlier this month.
“The uniqueness of wet-hop beers is one of my favorite things about them. Breweries are mostly about consistency and producing the same high-quality product again and again, but wet-hop beers really are a moment in time, like a wine vintage, that is a snapshot of that hop from that field at the time it was picked,” says Nickel. “The flavors can be so wildly different from the dried hops but they are familiar – citrus, tropical, floral, earthy, spicy – and all these flavors are revealed in slightly different ways that make we-hop beers truly one of a kind. It reconnects beer as an agricultural product, and highlights the farms and hop-growers that bring us these amazing ingredients to use year round.”
Nickel’s affinity for wet hops has rubbed off on many patrons over the years, including professional brewers who frequent the Wet Hop Festival and spend hours talking about this niche style of beer while downing iterations of it. One of the local industry pros who have been enraptured by his whole-cone contagion is Daniel Cady (pictured above, bottom left), Head Brewer at North Park’s TapRoom Beer Co.
This year, Cady released seven different fresh-hop beers, going beyond typical hop-forward fare to include seven distinct styles, including two special iterations of TapRoom’s house beers, releasing one per week from September through October. Along the way, he utilized eight different varietals, two of which were freshly kilned. This required him to travel to Yakima, Washington four times for hop-selection sessions, the brewing of a collaboration beer with Bale Breaker Brewing (a brewery installed in the middle of a hop farm) incorporating fresh-kilned, early-pick Columbus hops, and pour his beer at the Fresh Hop Ale Festival, an annual event that includes a brewing competition, in which Cady took first-place in the Imperial IPA category.
“When I was a young beer enthusiast, fresh-hop season was my favorite time of year. It seemed like everyone was making them, and I had a lot of fun trading for out-of-state bottles, and going to tap takeovers and fresh-hop nights around San Diego,” says Cady. “I noticed early on that O’Brien’s was a stalwart in the promotion and service of fresh-hop beers, remaining one of the only venues focused in the current scene. This proved engagement and excitement could be had by local consumers who, by nature, are not easily immersed in the Pacific Northwest fresh-hop culture.”
Beyond the fun factor, Cady felt driven to go the extra mile with these seasonal creations because he believes the full spectrum of what wet-hop beers can entail is not being represented. In addition to experimenting with styles most other breweries aren’t delving into – West Coast Pilsner, cold IPA, black IPA – he was also sure to source from multiple hop purveyors and utilize a number of different varietals to illustrate the myriad terroir-like aromas and flavors one can present via wet-hop beers.
The following is TapRoom’s long list of wet-hop beers for 2024…
- Church of Chill Wet-hop West Coast Pilsner: Brewed with fresh-hop Centennial and Strata from CHF
- Jagged Hedge Wet-hop West Coast IPA: Brewed with 10 pounds-per-barrel of fresh-hop Mosaic from Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), plus two-and-a-half pounds per-barrel of fresh-kilned Chinook hops from CLS Farms
- Figures in the Fog Wet-hop Hazy IPA: A Best of Craft Beer Awards silver medalist in 2023 brewed with Strata fresh hops from CHF, plus Nectaron Cryo, Mosaic and Hallertau Blanc
- Frost Factory Wet-hop Cold IPA: Brewed with fresh-hop Crystal from CHF and dry-hopped with fresh-hop Cascade
- Best Interest Wet-hop Black IPA: Dry-hopped with fresh-hop Cascade, plus Idaho 7
- Citra Starfresh Wet-hop Double IPA: Brewed with fresh-hop Citra, Citra T90 and Citra DynaBoost from YCH
- Moving Targets Wet-hop Double IPA: 2024 Fresh Hop Ale Festival gold medal winner hopped with fresh-hop Citra and Mosaic from YCH
It’s an impressive roster that’s about to grow by one more come next week. That beer will be a “harvest IPA” called Odd Strategy, which was brewed in collaboration with Nickel as an homage to a classic wet-hop IPA forerunner, using fresh-hop products that are new to the market.
Because Tom has provided so much inspiration for this project and my personal enthusiasm, I felt it proper to do our final fresh-hop beer of the year with him, and we are capping it off with a new, special product from Crosby, a limited-edition run of Amarillo and Comet fresh-hop CGX pellets. The base beer is inspired by one of the GOATs (greatest of all time), Sierra Nevada Brewing’s Harvest Ale.”
Daniel Cady, Head Brewer, TapRoom Beer Co.
Both Cady and Nickel experimented with fresh-hop CGX pellets this year. Nickel says the resultant beers were good, but due to the fact they require freezing – and in some cases deep-freezing – he is not sure they will be practical for most breweries. He says he appreciates the advancements the hop industry is making and is excited to see what is around the corner, noting anything that maintains fresh-hop uniqueness while making beers easier to brew is a win.
When asked how it feels to see someone like Cady so energized by his annual Wet Hop Festival, which is now in its 21st year, Nickel expresses thanks. “It is very gratifying to see what the Wet Hop Festival has meant to both brewers and customers over the years. I am grateful that the consumer response has always been so supportive, and I know over the years breweries have specifically produced beers to send to the event. I really appreciate all of the work that goes into producing wet-hop beers, so when brewers make that extra effort for the festival, it is great to see.”
TapRoom Beer Co. is located at 2000 El Cajon Boulevard in North Park