Podcast Episode 314: Pinthouse, Cloudburst, and Single Hill Join for a Fresh-Hop Brewing Roundtable

Three influential, award-winning brewers in the realm of fresh- and wet-hopped beers—Joe Mohrfeld (Pinthouse), Steve Luke (Cloudburst), and Zach Turner (Single Hill)—share their approaches to brewing fresh-hop beers in this ranging panel discussion.

Jamie Bogner Jul 30, 2023 - 7 min read

Podcast Episode 314: Pinthouse, Cloudburst, and Single Hill Join for a Fresh-Hop Brewing Roundtable Primary Image

Hops on the drying room floor at Perrault Farms

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The Northern Hemisphere hop harvest is just weeks away, and that means one of our favorite times of the year: fresh-hop beer season. To help add to the excitement, we invited three experts in the field of brewing with wet and fresh hops—Joe Mohrfeld of Pinthouse in Austin, Steve Luke of Cloudburst in Seattle, and Zach Turner of Single Hill in Yakima, Washington—to come together for a panel discussion on the subject. Over the course of the podcast, they share thoughts on:

  • the evolution of fresh-hop brewing over the past decade and a half
  • telling the agricultural and growers’ stories through beer
  • riding the fine line between hops’ grassy/vegetal flavors and brighter fruit flavors
  • choosing specific varieties for different brews, and hops that work best in fresh and wet form
  • using fresh dried hops for dry hopping
  • layering multiple forms—IQF, 301 Trial, wet, and fresh dried—for more flavor complexity
  • fermenting with yeast that provides the right sulfur lift
  • managing the pH increase from fresh hops through varied acid additions
  • longevity in fresh-hop beers

And more.

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Jamie Bogner is the cofounder and editorial director of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®. Email him at [email protected].

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