Its the time of year again, on the craft beer calendar, that lies somewhere after Oktoberfest but before cooler weather ushers in the big dark beers of late autumn and winter.
Recently, Loose Screw Brewing hosted it’s second annual “Freshies and Friends” event. A parking lot block party celebrating local fresh hop beer. Like last year, the weather could not have cooperated any better. A warm sunny fall day, perfect for fresh hoppy beer. With 19 vendors and approximately 600 attendees, it was a very successful version 2.0 of last years inaugural event.
Historically, Boise’s yearly signature “Fresh Hop” festival was hosted by Boise Brewing, They dubbed that “Hoptober Freshtival” and ran it in this form for about 11 years and blocked off Broad st between 5th and 6th was blocked off for it. 2024 was the last year for this format, and since then Loose Screw has picked up the baton. They now host their own branded version on their own property in downtown Meridian.
Loose Screw owner, Mike Garcia and head brewer Jake Mcann ran the show. The host brewery offering a Mosaic fresh hop version of their “Iceholes” Hazy IPA and “Throwback” pale ale. It’s all about just how “fresh” you can get and the hops in Mother Earth’s “Fresh as it Gets”, I was told, was barely an hour from vine to kettle. Bear Island’s “Smoke n Rye” made with smoked hops, and and Sockeye’s “Wake Up Fresh”, their experimental coffee IPA, were a couple of this year’s less conventional offerings there. In addition, there were non-beer options as well with Seltzi and Boise Booch in attendance pouring seltzers and kombucha respectively.
Loose Screw’s resident food truck, Big Beantz Taco Co was there on the west side as they always are. The fresh hop festival also had Sear and Savor on site in the parking lot section. Their grill was going all afternoon as well.
Freshie’s and Friends annual fresh hop festival, marks a bit of a bookend to the summer beer season. Seeing it grow over last year is a good sign it is here to stay.
Thanks to Mike and all the crew at Loose Screw and the dozen plus vendors from around the Treasure Valley for a great day. Already looking forward to the 2027 edition.
