It’s that time of year where seasonals are coming out of the woodwork here in Cincinnati.  I already talked about the Oktoberfest Beer that you can find all around this city now, and in the coming months.  As the weather cools down, though, you can find another kind of seasonal that gets me really excited.  I’m not talking about the pumpkin beers, though I’m in love with them too – I’ll be talking about them closer to October.

No, I’m talking about Wet Hop Beers.  If you’re not familiar with the concept, please read a bit about what they are, and “why” they are first.

Regardless of when they started, or why they exist, there are a lot of great examples around town for you to try, and I’ve done my best to compile a complete list of all of them around town.  If I missed any, let me know please!  I’ve also heard some pretty credible rumors that there might be one or two more being worked on that aren’t confirmed yet… so stay tuned!

Onward!

Christian Moerlein

Last year we were graced with Moerlein’s wet hopped goodie ‘T-Bird’ in cans, and although we won’t be getting that lucky again this year, we will be able to get a bit of it on tap at the lager house still.  The word I’m getting is that this beer will be on “In the next couple of weeks” – so keep your eyes (and ears) peeled, and I’ll let you know when you can expect it.  If you’re interested, you can also read my tasting notes from last year’s packaged batch to get you excited about it.

Hops: I haven’t received word yet if this will be the same as it was last year, but last years version featured fresh Cascade hops from Mankato Farms in New Carlisle, Ohio.

Dogberry

One of the advantages of being a small brewery, is that when you are doing small batches of something like a wet hop beer, you don’t need as much of the ingredients as a bigger brewery might.  Dogberry is using this to their full advantage to roll out a few different fresh hop beers for their fans to drool over (and drink).  They already rolled out their first one with an experimental single hopped fresh hopped pale ale.  But they’ve said that there are more to come too.

Hops: From Great Miami Hops, Fairfield Ohio.

Fibonacci

Another one of our local Nano Breweries, Fibonacci is debuting their first ever fresh hopped beer, an IPA called HuLu this Friday (9/2/16).  The beer uses hops from Old Dutch Hops, located out in Hillsboro Ohio… and they used a ton of them!  The brewery says that the beer has a nice dose of bitterness, spicy and citrusy flavors with bits of pine.  A big, dry bitter IPA that gives proper salute to the hops that it’s named after.

Hops: Columbus, Cascade, Chinook – all from Old Dutch Hops, Hillsboro Ohio.

Fifty West

Hoppy When Wet should be returning to the taps at Fifty West around the middle of September.  I don’t want you to think that by me calling it a “Standard IPA” it’s not amazing.  In fact, the easy drinking body provides a clean palate for the hops to really show up front in center in it’s profile.  Exactly what I want out of a fresh hop beer most of the time.  Don’t sleep on this one, it’s marvelous!

Hops: Cascade from Levanna Heights Hops, Ripley Ohio.

MadTree

They get a bit of a free pass on this one, but I was still sad to hear that because of the ongoing construction and production woes leading up to MadTree 2.0, we wouldn’t be getting a full batch of ‘Fresh 16’ this year.  However, the brewery more than made up for it with the news that they would most likely be giving us a small, one off “Hoff Stevens” release of the beer to keep us happy until next year.

Hops: Stay Tuned, as I get more info I’ll pass it on to you.

Nine Giant

Nine Giant may be new this year to the craft beer community, but they aren’t wasting any time in pushing this puppy out!  The Wet Hopped Rye Pale Ale is one that we snagged a sample of the homebrew version of on Cincy Brewcast, so I can tell you without a doubt that it’s not to be missed.  Nice and earthy, the Rye Malt plays very well with the wet hop flavors.  OSHY Battled The Pink Robots should be making it’s debut in the taproom this week.

Hops: Fresh Cascade from OSHY Hops, South Solon Ohio.

Rhinegeist

I happened upon this one while doing my regular scans of the ttb approvals.  Wet Hop Centennial jumped off the page at me, and seems like we might be getting some of this on draft some time this fall.  The details are still loose, and as soon as I hear back about more information, I’ll pass it on to you guys.

Hops: Centennial

Rivertown

Details on this one are still to come, as they typically release it once we get more into winter,  but last year’s ‘Great Miami Hop Project Volume 1″ was a delicous black IPA, and I’ve heard that they are going “A different direction with this years recipe”.  Fear not… whatever we end up with – Volume 2 will most certainly be awesome!

Hops: From Great Miami Hops, Fairfield Ohio

Taft’s Ale House

It doesn’t get more American than a big, wet hopped Cascade IPA.  This might not be the highest ABV, or the biggest number of IBUs, but this beer is big for it’s own reasons.  It’s a celebration of the harvest season!  They tap this beauty in the taproom on 9/1/16

Hops: Cascade from Valley View Hop Farms

Urban Artifact

If you’ve yet to try Calliope yet, you’re missing out.  This delicous fresh hopped Grand Cru is a different take on wet hopping that the other stuff you’ll see around town – but very similar in that is freaking delicous.  This beer is earthy, fruity and perfect for this time of year.  This is something that Urban Artifact can really brag about – a beer unlike anything I’ve tried.

Hops: Fresh Nugget, Galena, Cascade and Columbus from Ohio Valley Hops in Maineville, Ohio