It’s Fresh Hop season at Fort George. We live in a land of plenty. Few are so lucky. Plenty of water, plenty of trees, plenty of renewable energy, plenty of small farms and, most importantly, plenty of hops. There are tens of thousands of acres of hops growing within a day’s drive of Astoria, Oregon. We can head out from the brewery on harvest day to pick up the hops we want and be back in time to throw them in the hop back for a brew. That’s what we’ve been doing all month. We’re serious about hops and we’re serious about making beer that is as Fresh as possible, while being delicious, balanced, and stable enough so that you can keep drinking it all season long. You can read more about why we put most of our Fresh Hops on the hot side of the brew here.
In 2026, we added a new piece of equipment to our brewery floor – two big, blue hop shredders we named BeBop and Rock Steady. BeBop and Rock Steady are specifically designed to shred whole cone hops without crushing them, breaking open the hop flower to expose more lupulin (Lupulin is the yellow powder in the hop that gives each hop variety its own distinctive character, aroma and taste). Once the hops are shredded, they go directly into the hop back and the wort is circulated through the resulting green stuff during the whirlpool. 
Hop backs keep this fresh, green plant matter separate from our main tanks, which helps reduce our water usage when it’s time to clean up for the next batch.
From Marketing Director, Brian:
This year, the brew staff is getting super innovative with both style and process. They’ve been busy hauling, shredding and freezing fresh hops, straight from farm to beer in less than 24 hours so that we can have one of the most unique experiences in the world of beer, only possible in this magical place that we live. This year, we’re releasing more Fresh Hop beers than ever before: 10 different beers with over 11,000 lbs of fresh hops, wet off the bine. We’ll feature a bunch of IPA’s that fresh hop fans have come to love, but we’re also pushing boundaries with Fresh Hop Cavatica Stout and even a Fresh Hop Barrel Aged Barleywine (Thunder Blanket). We will tap these beers within 24 hours of packaging so they’re as Fresh as possible when they hit the pint glass.
That Fresh Hop Barrel Aged Barleywine, Thunder Blanket, will be available on draft and a very limited run of 500ml bottles. We’ve never put fresh hops in a beer like this before (and we don’t know anyone else who has, either) so we’ll see how that goes. American Barleywines can be deliciously hoppy and we think the extra addition of Fresh Chinook hops is going to put it all the way over the edge of amazing. Stay tuned in the next few weeks.
Also new this year – a little liquid nitrogen to freeze the fresh hop blossoms before we break them apart for the brew. Freezing the hop changes it into a rock hard ball of tasty green stuff. Then we shatter it into a gazillion tiny, powdery pieces, exposing the maximum possible quantity of lupulin powder to the wort.
We’ve been brewing Fresh Hop beers at this time of year since we opened our doors in 2007 but we’ve never made as many Fresh Hop beers (or processed as many pounds of Fresh Hops).
While we work with a lot of hop farms in the Willamette Valley and in Central Washington, one of our best and most reliable hop partners is Coleman Agriculture – a sixth-generation family owned Willamette Valley hop farm. We were lucky enough to pick up more fresh hops from Coleman than any other brewery this year. Harvest is in full swing all over the Northwest and hops will continue to roll into the brewery over the next few weeks but you can taste the first early harvest Fresh Hop beers on tap this weekend at the Pub.
Keep an eye on the email and the online store for more packaged releases all month and when you stop by the Pub, make sure to ask for whatever is FRESH.
FRESH HOP BEER RELEASES IN SEPTEMBER & EARLY OCTOBER
Fresh Hop Cavatica w/Fresh Cascade Hops from Mauka Living Farms – Draft Only
Cavatica is a bold, curiously hoppy stout with a strong flavor and a smooth but bitter complexity. It’s endlessly drinkable. There are more hops in Cavatica than in your average stout. And now there are more Fresh Hops in Cavatica than in your average Cavatica Stout.
Fresh Hop Mirrored Realities w/Fresh Strata Hops from Coleman Farms – 16oz Cans and Draft
In this Fresh Hop Reality – a mirror image of itself – you’ll find 500 pounds of Fresh Strata Hops. Straight from the farm, to the hopback, to the hot side of this unparalleled West Coast IPA faster than you can draw all homeomorphically irreducible trees of size n=10.
Thunder Blanket – Fresh Hop Barrel Aged Barleywine w/Fresh Chinook Hops from Coleman Farms – 500ml Bottles and Draft
A rich, smooth barleywine with an electrifying quantity of Fresh Chinook Hops.
Quality of Consciousness – Fresh Hop Hazy IPA w/Fresh Mosaic Hops from Coleman Farms – 16oz Cans and Draft
A curious and considered Fresh Hop Hazy IPA with Fresh Simcoe Hops from Coleman Farms. A collaboration with Ruse Brewing.
Simcoe Architect – Fresh Hop West Coast IPA w/Fresh Simcoe Hops from Coleman Farms – 16oz Cans and Draft
Fort George and Ghost Town Brewing – together making Fresh Hops a tiny bit more metal.
Fresh Hop Glass Daggers – Fresh Hop West Coast Pale Ale w/Fresh Chinook Hops from Coleman Farms – Draft Only
All the delicate grace of the finest Pilsner malts with a mighty quantity of lush, aromatic Nelson Sauvin hops and 100 pounds of Fresh Chinook hops from Coleman Farms. Glass Daggers is a collaboration with Kings & Daughters. Fierce, flavorful and also FRESH.
Fresh IPA – Fresh Hop West Coast IPA w/ Comet Hops from McKay Farms (Independence) – 16oz Cans and Draft
The Original Fresh IPA. From the bine, to the can, to your taste buds in just a matter of days, Fresh IPA is best consumed FRESH.
CoHoperative Ale – Fresh Hop Ale with Locally Grown, Hand Harvested and Community Sourced hops – Draft Only
Made with hops from Astoria and beyond – picked and processed by us and our friends in the courtyard at Fort George. We’re not quite sure what’s in it, but we know it will be good. 
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch – Fresh Hop West Coast IPA w/Fresh Mosaic Hops from Coleman Farms – 16oz Cans and Draft
Out in Willamette Valley, the hop farmers at Coleman Agriculture are harvesting and processing thousands of pounds of fresh hops destined for our delicious beer.
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch, the Fort George Brewers are pitching yeast, flipping levers and squeegeeing floors. They’re on the clock from dawn until dusk making sure the hops get where they’re going and the beer tastes good. It’s a collaboration with Meanwhile Brewing Co in Austin, TX.
Fresh Hop Fields of Green – Fresh Hop Hazy IPA w/Vista Hops from McKay Farms – 16oz Cans and Draft
We picked up a truck load of Fresh Vista Hops from McKay Farms in Independence, Oregon – that’s just a few hours from here. We can almost see the hops from our backyard. 
