Deschutes Chasin’ Freshies Limited Release Fresh Hop IPA

 Deschutes Chasin’ Freshies Limited Release Fresh Hop IPA.

6.5% ABV, 50 IBU, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon.

Yes, I saved my last fresh hop IPA until January, what of it? 

Clear, bright green hue, slim ivory head. 

In the nose: grapefruit and lemon, with a trace of tropical, slice of stone fruit, trickle of piney, drops of dank. 

In the mouth: blast of bitterness up front, followed by a splash of sweet. Hop flavors play smooth and gentle on the palate. Medium bodied, fresh, delicious, a joy to drink. Bitterness lingers on. Just the way I like it. 

I’ll get some more, if I see any. 

Crafted with Idaho 7 Hops

From fresh picked to fridge ready, seize the hop harvest season with this fresh and juicy IPA featuring aromas of tangerine, apricot and papaya paired with pine resin.

Venn Fresh Hop Northodox

 Venn Fresh Hop Northodox. Northodox IPA with Fresh Citra, Simcoe & Mosaic hops.

6.5% ABV, Venn Brewing, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Lightly clouded, bright golden, slim white head.

In the nose: dankness, resinous-ness, super citrusy. Orange marmalade and lime.

In the mouth: more bold hop flavors, a blast of citrus, a splash of pine, and a little bit of berries. Light bodied,easy drinking, flush with fresh hop flavors. Juicy throughout, but ending on a bit of a dry note. I

I a man enjoying this immensely.

Our house hazy IPA, Northodox, brewed with fresh hops. Tis the season!

Lagunitas Contents Under Fresher Fresh Hop IPA

Lagunitas Contents Under Fresher Fresh Hop IPA. with Mosaic, Simcoe, Citra and Sabro. 

7.7 % ABV. Lagunitas Brewing, Petaluma, CA & Chicago, IL. 

Clear, bright golden hue, slim white head. 

In the nose: Pow! Popping with fresh and vibrant hop aromatics, citrus and pine aplenty. Lemon and grapefruit up front. 

In the mouth: Hoppy as she gets, with appropriate bitterness blazing the palate. Light bodied, easy drinking, refreshing and delicious. Stone fruit joins citrus for a flash of peach. Hop flavor shines bright throughout. This goes down far too easily and is a brisk delight. 

This is the latest leap in Lagunitas’ never-ending quest for capturing the essence of fresh hops. Contents Under Fresher features whole-cone Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe & Sabro hops harvested and rushed from our family of farmer friends in Yakima. Expressed here in their absolute juiciest form.

The Brewing Projekt Wet Hopped Dare Mighty Things IPA

The Brewing Projekt Wet Hopped Dare Mighty Things IPA. India Pale Ale brewed with El Dorado, Sabro, Wed Citra and Wet Mosaic. 

7 % ABV, The Brewing Projekt, Eau Claire, WI. 

Wet-hopped/Fresh Hop ales have been in short supply these days. Surly didn't make theirs this year, nor did Indeed. People are asking me about them, and I don't know what to say. For whatever reasons, the breweries aren't making them like they used to, I guess. Not worth the effort? Couldn't tell you. Then, out of the blue, The Brewing Projekt released three of them together, and I did something I try not to do, and spent $18 on a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans. Well, I could've gone with the Gunpowder IPA wet hop for $16, but I want more of an IPA IPA, not a tea IPA. And now I will inspect the contents and decide whether it was worth $4.50 a can, before my employee discount. 

All hazed-up, of course, bright golden hue, large, fluffy white head. Looking good. 

In the nose: Ah! That is a fresh one! Bold citrus notes, spilling out grapefruit and lemon, 

In the mouth: Juicy on the palate at the start, with bold, citrusy hop expressions. Just enough bitterness to give it my seal of approval, but not too high to bring the hazy fiends down. Medium bodied, smooth-ish, and easy-type drinking. I am enjoying this one. I'm taking notes on can #3, so I have one more to drink without thinking about it. Delightful. 

Our classic IPA w/ El Dorado, Sabro, Wet Citra, and Wet Mosaic hops

Wait, why isn't it 100% wet hop? That's the good kind, don't you know? 

Deschutes Chasin' Freshies Fresh Hop IPA 2021: Collaboration with Bitburger

Deschutes Chasin' Freshies Fresh Hop IPA 2021: Collaboration with Bitburger. Crafted with Triumph + Cashmere Hops. 

6 % ABV, 50 IBU, Deschutes Brewing, Bend, OR. 

Clear, with a slight chill haze, bright golden, slim white head. 

In the nose: Bold, citrus and pine, with a slice of tropical on the side. Fresh and grassy. 

In the mouth: More fresh and lively hoppiness graces the palate. Low bitterness. Soft-ish, light bodied, easy drinking. Waves of citrusy flavors, lemon, orange, as well as other, as yet unidentified fruits, pass over the tongue and down the throat. 

This is not a surprising outcome for a collaboration with a German brewer known for its pilsner. It's not what I look for in a fresh hop IPA, when I really want to enjoy an American IPA with bolder hop expression. But this is what it is, and it is good, no matter how much I want it to be something else. 

From fresh picked to fridge ready, seize the day with every sip of this fresh hop IPA featuring notes of honeydew melon and tropical passionfruit.

Ommegang Hopstate 2020 IPA (Hop Heritage Series)

Ommegang Hopstate 2020 IPA (Hop Heritage Series) Dry hopped India Pale Ale, Locally Sourced NY Hops.  

7.4 % ABV, 45 IBU. Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, NU. 

Dear reader, I have sinned profoundly. It has been three years since the last entry of the Brewery Ommegang here in the Nib. They are one of my favorite breweries and I feel like I've been neglecting them. And many of the reviews posted here (but not all) in the past five years or so have been samples provided by distributors and reps. I am going to try to make sure their beers don't escape me too much in the future, while I strive to avoid those trendy $20 4-packs of hazy DDH DIPAs that always disappoint me because they taste the same. This quartet of ales was about $12 for the 16-ouncers. 

And so, here we have the first India Pale Ale from Ommegang here in the Nib. I've had every kind of beer from them you can think of, but not an IPA. (Also, it's the first Ommegang I've reviewed from a can, for whatever that's worth.) Let's drink it. 

All cloudy-like (and you know I wish it weren't), bright golden hue, slim white head. 

In the nose: floral, citrusy, stone fruit. Lightly spicy. Lemon, tangerine, grapefruit, apricot. 

In the mouth: Juicy. Bitter. Delightful. Bitterness last long on the palate, but is effortlessly balanced. Whiff of Belgian yeast. Delicious malt profile lurks below. Medium bodied, easy-drinking, ending on a grassy and dry note. Slight astringency, but tasty stuff. This is what I look for in an unfiltered IPA. 

The first three of these went down way too fast. I'd get more of these in a heartbeat. 

Hopstate IPA pours hazy pale orange with a lively white head. Bright citrus notes dominate the aroma, underpinned by vibrant floral hop character. Flavors of fresh squeezed orange juice are married to a soft, pillowy mouthfeel with moderate bitterness, and a slightly sweet finish with hints of candied orange peel 

Tin Whiskers Fresh Bot Fresh Hop Ale

Tin Whiskers Fresh Bot Fresh Hop Ale. With Fresh Strata and Fresh Comet hops. 

6.6 % ABV. 45 IBU. Tin Whiskers Brewing, St. Paul, MN. 

Lightly hazy, bright golden hue, lush ivory head. 

In the nose: Hoppiness spills out all over. Vibrant rush of citrus, pine and floral notes. 

In the mouth: Juicy. Dank. Delicious. Moderate bitterness, big hop flavor. Citrus and tropical notes abound. Orange, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon. Terribly tasty. Drinks down like a dream.

 I could go with a few of these. 

A Hazy IPA brewed with fresh Strata from Crosby Hops farms with a dry hop of Comet and Simcoe. We used over 6lbs of hops per barrel to create bright aromas of candied pineapple, lemon and grapefruit zest met with flavors of a sweet cake maltiness and tropical fruit.

Venn Community Hops Fresh Hop IPA

 Venn Community Hops Fresh Hop IPA. 

Chinook, Mt. Hood, Williamette, & Centennial hops grown at 38th & Hiawatha. 

6.5 %, 60 IBU. Venn Brewing, Minneapolis, MN. 

Clear, golden hue, bright white head, looking fantastic. 

In the nose: Citrus and pine dominate, lemon and lime, grapefruit and orange. 

In the mouth: Juicy, citrusy, grassy, then dry. Assertively hopped. Bursting with hoppy goodness. Falls squarely in the category of Yum a Dum Dum. Lean, clean, light on the malt side. 

It's pretty much exactly what I'm looking for in a fresh hop IPA.

I wonder what other people think. Mine was only the 37th check-in on Untappd. What did the others say?

Leslie C. says: "Very clean and refreshing. Not too hoppy." Jacob J. has a different take: "I was hoping for more hops."

Mo F. is disappointed: "I was hoping for the ipa flavor blast. This is bitter and malty. If I had no expectations, this would be a fine brew." Isn't that always the problem? Having expectations?

Drake T, I agree with you. " A bitter dry IPA. Such a nice change of pace in the world of overly juicy IPAs." Hear, hear. ( Or is it "here, here"?)

I'm sticking with yum. A dum. Dum.

We collaborated with Longfellow's own Community Hops for this Fresh Hop IPA! We hand-picked Mount Hood, Willamette, Chinook, & Centennial hops, grown right up the street at 38th & Hiawatha. IPA has never tasted so fresh!

Malts: Maris Otter

Hops: Warrior, Mount Hood, Willamette, Chinook, Centennial (United States)

Yeast: American Ale

And: Orange Blossom Honey

Steel Toe Mighty Fresh IPA

Steel Toe Mighty Fresh IPA.
6 % ABV. IBU: ?
Steel Toe Brewing, St. Louis Park, MN.

It's fresh hop season. I haven't had any fresh hop beers yet. Nor have I ever had this one. Let's kick it off...

Clear, bright golden hue, large, lasting ivory cap on top.

In the nose: Ah! Fresh, lively, pure. Plump with citrus and pine. Gorgeous.

In the mouth: Sweet at first, followed swiftly by bitter. Plenty of citrus punch on the palate, lemon, orange, grapefruit. Just the thing my tastebuds require. Medium bodied, easy drinking, just right.
This is exactly my kind of IPA.

I wish I had more information on this one, but I'm coming up empty everywhere I look. Should've taken a pic of the menu while I was at the taproom, maybe that had some answers.

Finnegans Running With Axes Fresh Hop Ale

Finnegans Running With Axes Fresh Hop Pale Ale. 5.5 % ABV. Finnegans Brewing Company, Minneapolis, MN.

I'm doing this one a little bit late. But it's not my fault. I didn't know this beer was even out until recently. Found a six-pack on sale. Like, real cheap. Down to the last can, as is my habit, and it's time to take notes.

Hazed & golden, large & lovely ivory head, leaving lace.

In the nose: All the hops, all the big, fruity flavors and tons of bitterness, buoyed by blasts of malt. It's a biggie. Fierce and fuzzy. Even thought this is being consumed six months later than it should be, there's a lot of action going on.

In the mouth: Pow, pow, pow! Bigness everywhere. Huge hop bitterness, fruit, citrus, otherwise. And mucho malt. Boom, boom, boom. Bam, bam, bam, bam. Tasty. Tangy. Vivid. Pow, pow, powerful. So full of everything, yet delightfully drinkable.
This hasn't seemed to have lost anything.  And I'll look out for it fresh the next time it's brewed.

A fresh hop Pale Ale brewed exclusively with Minnesota grown fresh hops by Mighty Axe Hop company. We are using over 150LBS of hops per batch of Centennial and Cascade hops picked just days before brewing the beer.  It’s a classic pale ale with earthy, pine, and citrus undertones. Once you go lumberjack you’ll never go lumberback.

Minneapolis Town Hall Fresh Hop 100 2017

It's October, 2017, and time to celebrate 20 years of Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery. This year, the annual Fresh Hop Ale was released just before the week-long anniversary events, so it would still be on tap as well as the other special goodies. And this year I had to make sure I got there in time to get a growler, because something disturbing, unsettling had occurred to me. In the seven years of this blog, and over 100 reviews of Town Hall beers, the Fresh Hop, now called Fresh Hop 100, is missing!

How can this be? I honestly don't understand it. In the days before I published my beer thoughts here, I posted reviews on BeerAdvocate.com and rate beer.com. The debut of Fresh Hop was in 2005, and at the time there was nothing else like it. We had only recently been seeing Sierra Nevada's Harvest Ale locally, and there were no other local breweries doing anything of the kind. (And, need it be said, a general paucity of local breweries to do so.) I posted reviews every year, each one an effusive missive on the merits of these bold hop bombs. Many exclamation points were misused, and there was expressive profanity, as well. No holds barred in my enthusiasm. Those were the days when new beers were being released almost every Monday afternoon, it seems, and I was there at each new release, taking home a growler to type up my notes on them. The first batch of growlers usually had a surprise inside, a single hop cone floating on top of the beer.

For five years straight I did this, but as time went on I wasn't always there for the release date, and would get my growlers without the hop cone. Then, in 2010, I wound up being too late to get a growler at all and took no notes, of course. But how could be so unlucky, or so bad at planning that for the next six years that I never got the beer to take home at all? Not once? I scanned through the 118 listings under Town Hall, stupefied that this had happened. It was imperative that this slight be corrected. I brought one home Tuesday night, along with a small growler of Three Hour Tour (too late, alas, for Six Hour Tour, the doubled-up and barrel-aged version of their venerated coconut milk stout) to save for a special day, and took these notes:

American IPA. 7% ABV. IBU:?

Clear, bold bronze coloring, hefty head, egg-white hued and lace-leaving.

In the nose: citrus, pine, and more. Apple? Blueberry? Mosaic hops keep me guessing. A cornucopia of fresh hop flavors at play. Lovely and lively.

In the mouth: Hop bitterness grabs the palate from the start. Grips it fast and holds it down. Lot of malts keeping it interesting on the back end, caramel and I'm not sure what-all. English varieties, I'm guessing. A little bit of spicy kick in there, too. Much more complex and flavorful than previous entries. Long, bitter finish. Medium bodied, excellent drinkability.

I have to admit, though, that I don't like this one quite as much as previous iterations that were straight-up palate piercers, with less malt to cushion the blow. But there's room for all kinds of expression in the big, wide world of beer. They can't all be Cascades and Centennials. Make room for Mosaic. Although, that Mosaic/Citra combo is so hot, what if....maybe....?


Hopped exclusively in the kettle and hop-back with wet whole cone Mosaic from Yakima Valley, WA.

NorthLoop BrewCo Foto #Fresh

Lucid, I mean, NorthLoop BrewCo Foto Fresh, I mean, Foto #Fresh (?) IPA, brewed and bottled by NorthLoop BrewCo, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.  (I mean, Inbound?)

Clear, amber-hued, lush, long-lived white head. Looking good.

Vibrant aromatics, flush with the freshness of citrus and pine. Flagrantly fresh and lively. Nice.

In the mouth: There it is, caramel malts lurk beneath the barrage of fresh hop bitterness. Fresh and tasty. More malty than most fresh hop ales and IPAs. But plenty tasty, and definitely delicious. Good beer, and I can drink it. In fact, I recommend it. Go ahead and drink one.

Castle Danger Mosaic Fresh Hop IPA

Castle Danger Brewery, Two Harbors, MN. 6.5% ABV.

Lightly hazed, bright golden coloring, impressive ivory head, looking good, leaving lace.

Gorgeous aromatics. Fruity, creamy, tropical notes with a citric twist. Pineapple, mango, grapefruit, lemon. Lovely.

In the mouth, it's nothing but yum. Smooth. Lightly bitter. Lean and clean. Long, hoppy finish. Just plain delicious. Bright, fresh and just about perfect. You can't go wrong with a Mosaic fresh hop ale. Indeed's was a knockout this year. Basically, Mosaic and Citra are the winning hops now. This is where the tongues are going.

Here's some words about it from their website:

Mosaic Fresh Hop IPA is brewed with fresh Mosaic hops, picked fresh off the vine and immediately shipped to the brewery and put into the beer. Hops grow in a way to protect the Lupulin glands, which produce the hop flavors we love. Hops are traditionally pelletized which lock in the majority of oils for long term storage but removes some of the delicate flavors they can offer. Fresh hopped beers are a way for brewers to use hops in their purest form. Enjoy this farm fresh beer in fall just weeks after the hop harvest.

Schell's Fresh Hop Pilsner

Schell's Fresh Hop Pilsner. Man, oh man, I'm late again with another Schell's beer. Had to grab it before it's gone.

Appearance: crystal clear and bright golden-hued, under a slim white head.

Aroma: Lively noble hop aroma, floral and citrus notes, lemon and sunflowers. Lively nose.

Taste: Clean and smooth, sparkling hop presence on the tongue. Easy-drinking, light body, tasting terrific. Lingering hops in the finish. Bit of a tropical twist to the hop flavor, pineapple and passionfruit, guava, perhaps. Tasty, tasty, tasty. This is great stuff.

Is there gobbledygook? There is, here on the carrier: "Schell's Fresh Hop Pilsner is a small batch, limited release beer series made annually during prime hop harvesting season. Fresh hops don't survive long after being cut, so they are picked, shipped and quickly added to the kettle, preserving their aromatic oils and resins that add so much flavor to the beer. This beer is best consumed fresh and must be refrigerated."

Summit Unchained Batch No. 17 Fresh Harvest IPA

Summit Unchained Series Batch No. 17: Harvest Fresh IPA. Tom Mondor, brewer. Best Served in a Pint Glass. What do you know, I have one. Let's put some beer in it.

Appearance: clear, bright amber hue, beautiful creamy white head, leaving lace and looking great.

Aroma: delicate floral notes and fresh fruitiness.  Nice.

Taste: First word: yum. More words? Okay…fresh stone fruit flavors, apricot and peach, now here come the tropics, pineapple and papayas…hop bitterness grows on the palate, but stays on the mild side. Flavors grow and grow and I'm left with yum. This is not an overpowering, punishing, in your face kind of fresh hop IPA.

Medium-bodied, long finish, supreme drinkability. Veers slightly on the sweet side, with a healthy malt body to match the high hops.

What kind of details can we get from the label? Not much, so I'll check the 6-pack carrier…"Profile: Pine, resin, grapefruit, citrus, strong malt backbone. Color: golden amber, malts: full pint 2 row, Munich, Caramel Munich, Best Caramel Malt Light. Fresh hops: Centennial, Cascade, Chinook, Wet Hops: Chinook, IBU: 70, ABV: 7%."

Town Hall Harvest Fresh

Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery has gone all apple-happy. They're now pouring ten different ciders on tap on a daily basis, and inaugurated Cider Week earlier this year. And this season, they released a second fresh hop beer, this one celebrating not just the hop crop, but guess what else? Apples! It's called Harvest Fresh, and I took home a growler last week. Let's it open it up and see if I'm going to enjoy 64 full fluid ounces.

Appearance: clear, bright golden color, slim white head.

Aroma: bright, vibrant and fruity, some stone fruits, like apricot and peach, a little citrus, more smooth than bitter. Some hops are here, but on a very mellow scale.

Taste: On first sip, there a bitter hoppy bite, then a fruity flush. Sip it again, there's a return of the hoppy smack, then brisk carbonation, next come the apples. The come in with more tart on the third, until that's all I'm tasting. By the fourth gulp, we're in Cidertown, my friend. The hop bitterness and the apple-y tartness go hand in hand. Body is medium-low, leaving the main ingredients to do all the talking. Tart apple flavor is turning a degree sour, subsuming the parts of the ale. It finishes crisp, dry, and refreshing, a unique and intriguing drink.

I'll finish this, and I will enjoy it, but it's not the sort of thing I'd ever choose over an IPA, a stout, or a Belgian single. Sorry, appleheads, not gonna happen.

Here's the official word on it: "The second fully fresh hop beer we made in 2014. Fall is the harvest season for many things…hops and apples to name a couple. We worked with Milk and Honey Cidery and received 3 BBL of fresh pressed apple juice to use in this beer, it is fresh hopped with Equinox. A relatively new hop that gives off a strong apple and citrus character. 5.7%"

So, why is a well-regarded, award-winning brewpub showing such devotion to cider, I wondered? The answer came back to me that the owners feel that cider is the next big thing, and they want to be ahead of the curve. At the risk of being on the wrong side of history, I just don't see it. Cider has it's charms, of course, but I remain immune to them. As for it's champions, the only ones I know personally also happen to sell it or make it, and I just can't be turned over to their side, try as I might. There simply isn't the diversity of flavors that beer has, and what there is, it's so delicate in distinction, it honestly doesn't register with me. Maybe I need to try harder to like cider, but more often I find my time pre-occupied in pursuit of beer.

Indeed Mosaic Fresh Hop Ale

Indeed Mosaic Fresh Hop Ale 2013.

Last year, Indeed came out with a fresh hop ale brewed with Centennials. This year, they did two, the second with Mosaic, that new hop that's making the scene.
This  came out in October, and the keg waited in our cooler until now. Better tap it while it's still fresh(-ish).

Clear, bright golden hue, big, beautiful, dotted white frothy head.

Aroma: sweet and bitter together. melon and pineapple plus apricot and peach. Delightful. Lovely. Ah….

Taste: Starts out mild, then the hop flavor starts to build. Fresh, vibrant, and full of tropical fruit flavors. Mellow mouthfeel, not too bitter, but very lively in the mouth. Lingering bitterness on the back of palate is juuust right.

There's another note in the flavor from this hop that is hard to pin down, but the description from the brewery keeps calling it "blueberry." And that's the closest thing I can think of, but it's not quite really that, though it does faintly remind you of that fruit. That's what beer tasting is all about, really, finding the closest thing you can to describe a particular flavor element, even if it is echoes away.

Lean bodied, clean, and ever-so easy to drink. (only 5.2% ABV.)

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale

Sierra Nevada Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale 2013, Wet Hop Ale, , Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, California. Alc. 6.7% by Vol.

Clouded, with crimson coloring, under a rocky, boisterous head, leaving lacing.

Lively hoppiness marks the aromatics, of course. a beautiful showcase of piney and floral goodness. Ahhh….gorgeous.

Tasting it: All that glorious hop bounty arrived on the tongue with terrific aplomb. Extraordinarily generous hop delivery is the hallmark of this historic brew. The back of the label boasts it thusly: "Our Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale was the first American beer ever brewed with 100% fresh-picked "wet" hops. In one day, we harvest hops in Yakima, WA, ship them the same night to our brewery in Chico, CA, and into the brew kettles at dawn the following day. This extraordinary effort creates a beer unmatched aromatics of fresh pine, green grass, , and citrus--with layers of spicy bitter-sweet notes that hop fanatics like us dream of all year."

Man, that takes me back. I remember when word of this beer, originally just called Harvest Ale, first started spilling out, and how you could only get it in limited markets, and on draft only. Eventually it found it's way here, and I managed to get a keg in -(I'm gonna guess 2005? maybe?)----. This was before others got into the act, before Town Hall started the Fresh Hop Ale, before Surly did their Wet, before Indeed began their project, and if you're in a different region, you can just adjust  according to your geographic circumstances. There certainly wasn't anything like this, until Sierra Nevada got the ball rolling. I have to admit that I completely forgot about SN's Harvest ale in the intervening years. Not that it's not as good, it's just not necessary, since we have all these locally brewed version. (And, I presume, so many other communities have theirs.)

Medium bodied, hop forward, malt does it's thing, which in this circumstance means letting the hops take a bow. And they do, but how.

There's more of what I mostly refer to disparagingly as gobbledygook on the front: "Each fall, hops reach their peak flavor--bursting with aromatic oils that five ales layers of complex flavor and aroma that can only happen at harvest time. For us, fall comes twice a year--once in each hemisphere. This Harvest Ale features "wet", or un-dried whole-cone hops from Yakima, WA, that are plucked from the bine and delivered to our brewery within 24 hours of picking."



I looked it up on BeerAdvocate.com, and here is my original review, taken from a pint at some unidentified bar, before I could get my hands on a keg. It was very limited availability, then, and I didn't sell enough (or any!) SN to warrant getting one of the few kegs. These notes are from November 9, 2004:

Appearance: clear and bronze, under a light, thin, creamy tannish head.
Aroma: now, we're getting somewhere, fresh, fruity, ...citrus, grapefruit, peach, apricot, ...piney, floral, complex, and arousing.
On the palate, brisk and bold, grabbing and dominating the senses,a great hoppy blast with every swallow. Warm and toasty on the tongue, palpable hoppiness, hops never stop popping!
Great tasting, full bodied, with a long, fresh, hoppy finish.
My first encounter with this brew that I thought I'd have to travel to California to try, and now I'll have to return to the pub to satisfy this hop-craving I've developed!
In fact, it reminds me of the time two years back when I bought a new acquaintance a beer, and he had no choice, offered that he'd have whatever I had. So, I bought him a SN Celebration. Before he was halfway done with the pint, it started gurgling out of his mouth, and he offered no explanation for why it fled his lips.
Next time I saw him, he was drinking Rolling Rock.
If I bought him a pint of this, I'm thinking he would've hurled when it first met his mouth

.

Schell's Fresh Hop Mosaic Pilsner

Schell's Mosaic Pilsner, Fresh Hop, August Schell Brewing, New Ulm, MN.

Appearance: Clear, bright, golden, big, blooming snow-white head, leaving a little lace.

Aroma: Mosaic. What are you, man? Everybody's using you like you're the new hot hop. What are you giving us, what are you bringing to the table, what do you add? It spills out bitter, it busts out sweet, and it gives forth a mind-boggling melange of fruity esters. Maybe Mosaic is an appropriate appellation for this hop, because I can't find one single thing to pin on it. Blend of tropical and citrus.

Taste: Nice fresh bite of hops at the forefront, then all is smooth and easy. There's a little wheat-y texture in the body, some malty sweetness takes over the flavor, and great balance is the end result.

Hey, they have some gobbledygook on the label. " Schell's Fresh Hop Pilsner is made with freshly harvested hops. They are quickly shipped and put in the kettle, preserving their aromatic oils and resins. Contains wheat."

This is pretty tasty stuff, and drinkable as heck. Mmmm. Man, can you drink this one!

Deschutes Chasin' Freshies Fresh Hop I.P.A.

Deschutes Chasin' Freshies Fresh Hop Ale, 2013 Release, featuring Amarillo Hops, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon. 7.4% ABV.

You know what would've been a better glass for this beer? A nice pub-style pint glass, which I used to own with a Deschutes logo, until earlier when Sonny Boy the Cat jumped up on the cabinet and brushed up against it, just sitting there, waiting for me to put it away. Should I be mad at Sonny Boy? Can I? Is it possible? It's all my fault for leaving it there, and as a curious cat, he simply had to be where he had to be…sigh, it's all my fault. I have other Deschutes pints, too, but, no more worries, there's no point in that, let's pour this bomber and see what comes out…

Clear, golden, with a giant, bone-white head, leaving lace. Looking beautiful.

Aroma: ah! Fresh as can be, blooming with pineapple, mango, orange, tropical and citrus fruits galore. Floral, too, and utterly lovely. Just right.

Tasting it: Just yum, totally yum. Very lean-bodied, exquisite consumption, astonishing ease of drinking, with a light attachment of hop bitterness, but a long finish.

I feel like reading the label…"Like fresh powder, it's a seize-the moment kind of thing. This year we've chased down Virgil Granache Farns' famed Amarillo (Register mark) hops. At arrest, we rush the hops from the vine to our kettles to ensure we capture the purest, juiciest essence of the hop flower in every beer. Enjoy the bright, bold aroma and flavor that comes but once a year."

Bright and bold says it right. Delicious stuff. Grab it up while it's still fresh.