Hood River Hops Fest - For The Win

One of my favorite local festivals, the Hood River Hops Fest, is this Saturday, and I find myself feeling jittery with excitement. If you're looking to try some fresh hop beers there is no better place to go. Sure, there is the Portland Fresh Hop Tastival at Oaks Park, but it pales in comparison to the Hood River fest.
In the rest of this post you will find a guide to the Hops Fest, along with the first complete beer list for this years event.

As a primer, "SNOB" Ritch has a new video from Behind The Pint on what goes into picking and packaging those fresh hops every year:


Hop Harvesting 101 from Ritch Marvin on Vimeo.

More info on the Hood River Hops Fest, and why it dominates, after the jump.

The poster above is pretty self-explanatory, 25+ Breweries and 50+ beers. Typically there are a handful of beers and breweries that you only see at this fresh hop festival and never make it to the Portland and Eugene ones, either because the brewery didn't make enough for it to travel that far out or because there is a limited number of kegs and the beer could sell out at this festival.
For example, Big Horse Brewing, a small operation in Hood River that doesn't distribute to Portland, has easily one of the best fresh hop beers each year called Vernon the Rabbit Slayer. You may not know this if you haven't been to the fest in Hood River, because I have never seen it available anywhere except once a year at this fest.

Or how about Killer Green from Double Mountain, perhaps the most highly anticipated fresh hop brew in Oregon? The release party for this beer is Tuesday, October 5th at the Bye and Bye in Portland, but this will be your first chance to try it extremely fresh at the HR Hops Fest.

from left to right: Angelo De Ieso, Lucas Worley, "Swine-Flu" Jimmy at last years Hood River Hops Fest

Also adding to the enjoyment is the outdoor location in the heart of downtown Hood River. It's wide open and conveniently located right between both Double Mountain Brewing and Full Sail Brewing. Each is literally a minute's walk from the fest grounds. There is plenty of food and a number of vendors showing off their arts and crafts, all of which provides a welcome distraction and change of pace than just beer, beer, and more beer.

Unfortunately, because of location constraints, the PDX Fresh Hop Tastival is now located at Oaks Park in a covered tent. If you can't make it to Hood River then I do still recommend hitting up the Portland fest, but the out of the way location, lack of public transportation, and enclosed and bare-bones event space make for a pretty sterile fest. The beer, however, does go a long way in making up for it.

2010 HOOD RIVER HOPS FEST
Brewery & Beer List

*indicates fresh hop beer

Amnesia Brewing

1. Mother Plucker*
2. Amnesia ESB

Beer Valley Brewing

1. Highway 19*
2. Fresh Hop Leafer Madness*

Big Horse Brewery

1. Vernon the Rabbit Slayer*
2. Bourbon Nightmare

Boneyard Brewery

1. Hop Verde*
2. Black 13

BridgePort Brewery

1. Hop Czar

Deschutes Brewery

1. Hop Trip*
2. Fresh Hop Mirror Pond*

Double Mountain Brewery

1. Killer Green*
2. Von Stuke's Vienna

Everybody's Brewing

1. Head Stash*
2. Cash Stout

Fort George Brewery

1. Hopstoria*
2. Cavatica Stout

Full Sail Brewing

1. Hopfenfrisch Fresh Hop Pilsner*
2. Lupulin Ale*
3. Adam's Malty Bomb

Hopworks Urban Brewery

1. Goldilocks*
2. Fest of Fury*
3. Abominable

Laurelwood Brewing

1. Organic Cascade*
2. Workhorse

McMenamin's Ales

1. Thundercone Fresh Hop Ale*
2. Ruby Ale

New Old Lompoc Brewing

1. Crystal Missile*
2. Harvestman Red*
3. Ale Conner ESB*

Lucky Labrador Brewing

1. The Mutt*
2. Ludwig's Alt

MacTarnahan's Brewing

1. Mac's Fresh Hop*
2. Humbug'r

Ninkasi Brewing

1. Total Crystallization*
2. Believer

Oakshire Brewing

1. Wet Hop Harvest Ale*
2. Localvore*

Rock Bottom Brewery

1. Hop Harvest Ale*
2. Cascadian Pilsner

Rogue Ales

1. Wet Hop Ale*
2. Chatoe Rogue Creek Ale

Sierra Nevada Brewing

1. Northern Hemisphere Harvest Ale*
2. Tumbler

Terminal Gravity Brewing

1. Single Hop #1 - Simcoe
2. Single Hop #2 - Columbus

Three Creeks Brewing

1. Cone Lick'r*
2. Ridge Trail Ale

Upright Brewing

1. Tyler the Elder*
2. Redwood Smoked Lager

Walking Man Brewing

1. Hopalong IPA*
2. Knuckledragger

Widmer Brewing

1. Black Nugget*

Hood River Hops Fest Website
Admission is Free
$6 for a mug and $1 for tasting tokens

Location:
Columbia Lot in downtown Hood River in parking lot across the street from Full Sail, entrance is at 5th and Cascade Ave.

Directions:
I-84 to Exit 63 for Hood River City Center. Turn Right on Cascade Ave. Hops Fest will be three blocks down in parking lot across from Full Sail Brewing.