Three more mini-reviews for my at-home fresh hop drinking! Featuring beers from Ex Novo Brewing, Hopworks Urban Brewery, and another from Crux Fermentation Project.

Fresh Hop Eliot IPA – Ex Novo Brewing

This is the fresh hop version of the brewery’s flagship Eliot IPA, featuring Centennial hops from Goschie Farms. It’s 6.6% ABV and the regular version is 68 IBUs. The can was packaged on August 21 and I drank it September 7. My notes:

Suitably golden and hazy, not as a NEIPA but just form the heavy hopping. Bright nose with a touch of lupulin powder, a sweaty/lightly catty note. Big punch of zesty spice in the flavor, really expressive, peppery, lots of fresh greens with some resin that’s got quite a pop. Really good, Ex Novo went big with the hops here, nice.

Fresh Hop Abominable – Hopworks Urban Brewery

HUB takes its Abominable Winter Ale and gives it the fresh hop treatment with Centennial hops. The brewery says:

You’ve never tasted Abominable like this before! Fresh Hop Abominable stays true to its namesake with fresh Centennial hops that add juicy notes of pine for a perfect PNW fresh hop ale.

With 7.3% ABV and 65 IBUs, it’s a maltier fresh hop beer than most on the market. My notes:

Looks like A-bom—deep amber-brown, clear, with an off-white to light tan creamy head. Aroma is maltier with a spicy fresh note, a bit of fresh-cut greens. More pine and resin playing off the malts, with some peppery spice and some leafy greens in the flavor. The more it warms, the more “fresh greens” (salad) I get as I drink. It’s nice.

Sabro Hazy Fresh Hop IPA – Crux Fermentation Project

The second fresh hop beer from Crux, available widely in cans — it’s even at Costco. I was excited for a Sabro hopped beer this year, and learned that while it’s not listed on the label, there is also fresh Strata in this beer. The description:

With so many of our locally grown hop species originating overseas, it’s not every day we get to craft a true American original like this hazy IPA. Freshly harvested, this fully unfiltered expression of the Sabro hop – a unique variety bred from a wild hop native to the mountains of New Mexico – explodes with flavors of coconut, tangerine, and tropical fruit with a hint of cedar and creamy mouthfeel that’s anything but bitter. Stay wild!

ABV is 6.5%, with 45 IBUs. The can was packaged on September 15, I drank it September 17. My notes:

Yellow, apricot juice hazy appearance. Aroma goes brightly tropical with citrus and catty notes (from the Strata). A bit of coconut in the aroma initially but it goes into that catty-citrus direction with tangerine, pineapple. (Was really hoping for coconut.) Flavor is herbal and savory, a touch of coconut meat earthiness with a wheatgrass juice greenness. A bit of wild mustard greens. Fully hazy mouthfeel and graininess. Touch of green bitterness in the finish.