This past weekend was, in my opinion the best of the annual beer festivals in the Treasure Valley. There are many “Beer Fests” in the area each year. The Mountain Brewers Beer Fest is bigger, but it is in Idaho Falls, a little over 4 hours drive for us Boise residents. McCall’s “Destination Beer” in (put on by Idaho Brewers United )is another good one, but its a 2 hour drive up Highway 55 in the dead of winter. There is also the “Beer and Bacon” fest in June at the fairgrounds in Boise (featuring two of my favorite things). “Zoo Brew” is another, usually in August in Boise at…well…the Zoo.
In Early October though, just after the peak of hop harvest season, Boise Brewing on Broad street hosts the best of all of them. This time of year many brewers will make special beers incorporating fresh local hops that in some cases were harvested barely 48hrs before. A “Fresh Hop ” beer generally means that the hops used during the brew day are in their freshly picked “wet” state. Typically hops are dried after harvest and then also, they are pulverized and compressed into small pellets. As fresh hops are approximately 80% water, by weight, this drying and processing is convenient and is standard practice.
This past Oct 12th was the 2024 edition of the Boise Brewing Hoptober Freshtival. I of course could not let the opportunity pass me by. Both of my readers demand such high levels of due diligence on my part. Showing up just after the opening 12:00pm bell, I quickly made the rounds. Local brewers bringing “Fresh Hop” beers this year included Alliteration, Mad Swede, White Dog, Clairvoyant and Payette. Some of these offerings were unique recipes for this event, and others were fresh hop versions of existing beers many of us would have recognized in the past.
This Fresh Hop addition to a beer tends to give a floral, earthy component and sometimes a little grassy character to a hoppy beer, but you really get the sense of a beer made with ingredients JUST harvested. That is the lightning in a bottle these beer makers are trying to capture, that “fresh off the vine” experience. The first few weeks of September, after the kids are all back in school is the window when this all happens.
Others present were Snake River Brewers, the local homebrew club, chatting with festival attendees and taking questions on all things regarding the best hobby in the world. Boise Beer Buddies, a member based community connecting craft beverage enthusiasts with local businesses was also there. You want to be a Beer Buddy, membership has its privileges, you can find out more here.
In other happenings in the Boise craft beer world, it is no secret Ruckus Brewing is about to open its doors. Their grand opening is set for October 19th and BoiseBrewBlog will have a post about that, next week. We hope to welcome the new kid on the block with a taproom full of craft beer lovers that day.
