The Essence of Wetness

It’s hop harvest, and this is the time of year hop lovers make their pilgrimage to our prime growing region for both business and pleasure. Brewers from around the world find themselves here in the Yakima Valley, the center point of the hop industry, whether it be for one of the hop education programs, to select specific lots with smell and flavor profiles that can embody their brand of beer, or to pick up wet hops for a unique beer making experience. As a hop supplier based here in downtown Yakima, we at Hollingbery and Son supply hops to breweries in all 50 states and even a few countries around the world. Between all these visitors, taking in hop bales, and hosting selections, the month of September is a very busy time for us. I’m still not sure how I got roped into writing this.

This short story focuses on two brewers whose beer encompasses the love for hops that’s become so popular in today’s beer culture. Steve Luke and Zach Kornfeld of Cloudburst Brewing have quickly gained fame for their experimental style of brewing one-off beers with a heavy focus on hop usage (a one-off beer is a special beer that is made once and doesn’t hold a regular spot on the menu. Because of its short term nature, brewers can get creative and have some fun).  Having opened their doors just last January, already their list of past beers will make your head spin, and there are currently four wet hop beers on the “Future Beers” list.  For these they will make four quick and dirty trips to Yakima to pick up wet hops directly from a farmer and return immediately to Seattle to brew.

With wet hops, your window of opportunity is small, and how they’re handled greatly affects that window. The drying process typically used to process hops preserves the oils and other chemical compounds valuable for brewing.
Steve and Zach arrived in Yakima recently on a hot August afternoon. After a few quick stops to tour hop picking machines and meet growers on the reservation, it was beginning to cool off. Cluster, the original American hop, wasn’t really on the menu for the wet hop beer in mind, but once the guys saw and smelled how beautiful these cones were, we loaded up a couple hundred pounds of Champoux Farms Clusters. Then we were off to a farm in Moxee, an area known for growing quality Centennial Hops, a task not easily accomplished. The Centennials being picked had large cones with a bright fruitful flavor and really fit the bill for what Cloudburst was looking for. The sun hadn’t quite set, but they were headed back west. It would be a long day of brewing to come.

Yakima hop harvest culminates with the Fresh Hop Ale Festival on October 1^st. There you can experience and appreciate the fruits of all our labors, farmers, brewers and hop suppliers alike. Cloudburst Brewing will be in attendance, serving up several of their fresh hop beers brewed with wet hops painstaking dragged across the Cascade mountains on one of their many trips to Yakima.  Over and back again in the best sort of way.

 

Fresh Hop Musings from Steve Luke, Cloudburst head brewer/owner

The majority of the beers we brew at Cloudburst are IPAs – 2-4 different IPA recipes every month—so our brewery lives and dies for hops. And our beers are only as good as the hops we use.

When we get to the Valley, the roads are filled with the aroma of hops, the sun is hot and dries off our wet Seattle clothes, and I get goose bumps every time we pull into a farm at harvest time. What variety are they harvesting? How do they look? How do they smell? Is the farmer happy with them? I wonder what type of technology or technique they are using in the picker, and in the drying beds. Every facility we get to walk through is like another Willy Wonka tour, and it never gets old. 

But as soon as we arrive we also know our clock is ticking and an end is near. The hops need to get into a beer as quickly as possible, so that we can do the beer, the hops and the farmer justice. We know we need to get on the road to Seattle. 

Brewing is a very romantic profession. So many people think about starting a brewery, dreaming of a second career, working with their hands, how easy it would be.  I see and hear examples of this everyday. They don’t see my 11-hour work days 6 days a week, me cleaning and re-cleaning and re-checking and sanitizing our tanks, fixing pumps and unclogging toilets, lifting heavy things at awkward angles, stressing over the intricacies and flavors buried within our beer, and nodding off while adding receipts to QuickBooks. When you step back and lift your head up, yes, it’s pretty fun and inspiring. But while your head is up, the to-do list only gets longer.  It’s not as romantic as it seems.

Taking a break from the madness, driving to Yakima, the heart of hop country, is one of my favorite annual activities we do. It’s like Christmas morning to us. Driving to the source of our favorite ingredient, down a dusty road to a farm that smells like heaven – that IS romantic to me.

Fresh Hop Beers:

A$AP Hoppy – an IPA cold conditioned on wet centennial and cluster 

The Essence of Wetness – an IPA that we steeped with wet centennial and cluster after the boil

Water Weight – a DIPA with Wet Simcoe that we added to the kettle near the end of the boil, and then also steeped post-boil.

Wet Hot Indian Summer – A Pale Ale with Wet Citra that we ran pre-boiled wort through, added to the boil, and steeped post-boil.

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Thank you, Graham, Steve and Zach!