Post updated September 1; added Newtopia Cyder collaboration and revised beer release dates.
With San Diego now home to more than a dozen hop farms, local brewers are seizing the opportunity to use freshly-picked hops in their beers for an added dose of aroma and flavor.
This year’s hop harvest started towards the end of July, with breweries Amplified, Burning Beard, and Nickel among the first to pick hops from the bine, meaning the county’s first wet hop beers of 2017 already graced taps in early August.
Leading the charge per usual is Tom Nickel, a 22-year veteran of the San Diego brewing scene. By the time September rolls around, the seven-barrel brewery he runs in Julian, Nickel Beer Co, will have churned out close to a dozen wet hop beers.
“We added a new fermenter, so we are brewing 2 wet hop beers a week for 5 straight weeks across 6 different beer styles, using 3 different yeast strains,” Nickel says. “I am pretty certain that only Sierra Nevada might have ever brewed more than 10 wet hop beers in a single harvest.”
The bar he owns in Kearny Mesa, O’Brien’s Pub, recently tapped a few wet hop beers from Nickel Beer Co and other breweries, but the real party is scheduled for September 14th-17th, when the pub hosts “San Diego Wet Hop Weekend.” The night of Thursday the 14th will likely kick off with a wet hop cask and a collection of Nickel beers, before wet hop beers from all over Southern California take over the taps for the weekend.
Below is a list of wet hop beers we are aware of. We’ll update this post when we learn of more.
Amplified:
– Toad the Wet Hop-it brewed with Chinook and Cascade from SD Golden Hop Farm. Tapped August 4 at the Miramar location.
Ballast Point:
– “Iron Fire Family Reunion Collaboration. Brewed in the afternoon of August 21 and 22 after picking 250# of Nugget and Crystal at Star B Buffalo Ranch and Hop Farm in west Ramona in the morning both days. 500# total picked over both days. Hopefully be driving the fresh picked hops straight to Long Beach location, in a refrigerated truck, to put straight into the beer. Wet Hop IPA’ish style fermented with 100% Brett to be brewed at Long Beach.
– “Fall Brewing Family Reunion Collaboration. Brewed in the afternoon of August 23 after picking 200# of Nugget and Crystal at Star B Buffalo Ranch and Hop Farm in west Ramona in the morning. Hopefully be driving the fresh picked hops straight to Trade Street location, in a refrigerated truck, to put straight into the beer. 5% ABV Saison with a mixed yeast (brett and saison 565), grains of paradise, local sage and local wet hops. Brother Levonian grain bill.” – Colby Chandler
– “We [Ballast Point Little Italy] brewed a Wet Hop IPA, we will name ‘Splash Zone’. It was brewed with a 50/50 split of Chinook and Cascade wet hops from Golden Hop Farm. ABV: 6.4% It will be released in all our tasting rooms on August 31st.” – Julia Cain
Burning Beard:
– Circle of Wet Hops (wet-hopped version of year-round SD Pale Ale the Circle of Hops). Star B Ranch hops. Tapped August 4.
Coronado:
– Fresh Hopportunity IPA with Cascade from a former brewer’s dad (5 pounds in the mash), plus Nugget and Crystal from Fallbrook’s SD Golden Hop Farm in Fallbrook (whirlpool). 6% ABV and 35-45 IBUs. Tapped late August.
Culture:
– 7 lbs of Cascade in a keg of Pale Ale for the Encinitas tasting room grand opening August 12.
Culver:
– Hops from SD Golden Hop Farm were used to dry hop the brewery’s hoppy pale, Other Spaces, as well as a few casks.
Fall:
– Wet hop Crystal Mess with Star B Ranch Crystal hops. Brewing week of August 14.
Golden Coast Mead:
– Star B Ranch’s Crystal hops used in a session clover mead (honey wine). On tap for Farm to Fork Week festivities (September 9-17).
Mikkeller:
– Wet-hopped New England-style IPA featuring Star B hops. Canning September 5; Release September 6.
Mission:
– 5.6% ABV Pale Ale called Fresh Hop. Star B Ranch hops. Cascade and Chinook in the whirlpool; Cascade, Nugget, Crystal in the dry hop. 22 oz bottle run… Available late August.
Monkey Paw:
– Same Day XPA
– Lab Monkey
Newtopia:
– Scripps Ranch cyder company has gotten in on the act, collab’ing with Star B.
Nickel:
– Buffalo Paw Brown Ale
– Fresh Mountain Crystal IPA
– Green Truck IIPA
– My Way IPA
– Standing the Eagle IPA
– Star B Pale Ale
– Golden Nugget wet hop IPA
– Wet Hop Table Beer with Benchmark and Monkey Paw
– Hook In Mouth (wet hop Star B Chinook IPA)
– “An unnamed and uncertain Wet Hop Red Ale with hops from the new front hop yard at Star B. Eric has a lot of new varieties out there and they are looking good. Not sure exactly what we are going to brew because that will somewhat depend on what hops we end up using.
– Star B – Burning Beard – Nickel collab brewed September 1.
North Park Beer Co:
– “We made an IPA with 72# of Chinook and 8# of Columbus wet hops [Nopalito Farm]. We used the mash tun as a giant hopback and allowed the hot wort to steep with the wet hops at the end of boil. The beer is still fermenting [8/14] but if all goes as planned it’ll be 7.0% ABV.” – Kelsey McNair
Pizza Port:
Carlsbad Village:
– Plant to Pint strong pale ale with fresh Mosaic
– Raceway IPA with fresh Citra
Ocean Beach:
– Wet Lamborghini IPA with fresh Mosaic
– Don Simcoeleone IPA with fresh Simcoe
San Clemente:
– Contender pale ale with fresh Mosaic
– Riptide IPA with fresh Citra
Solana Beach:
– 135 IPA with fresh Citra
– Sea Dog Session IPA with fresh Mosaic
– Merica IPA with fresh Simcoe
Pure Project:
– Name is yet to be decided, but this will be a collaboration with @womenscraftbeercollective. SD Golden Hop Farm hops. Tapped late August.
Quantum:
– Anti-Matter IPA w/ SD Golden Hop Farm Cascade. Tapped late August.
South Park:
– Baby Buck XPA with Star B. Tapped late August.
– Starpalito IPA with Star B and Nopalito. Tapped late August.