Evergreen: Behind Our Green Hop Beer - By Harley Williams

Evergreen: Behind Our Green Hop Beer - By Harley Williams
Brewing beer is both a science and an art, with each step in the process playing a crucial role in shaping the final product. One of the most significant ingredients in brewing is hops, which are typically processed into dried whole cones or pellets for ease of use throughout the year. However, for a brief window each year, brewers fortunate enough to be near the hop-growing heartland of Kent have the unique opportunity to use freshly harvested hops, straight from the bine. These hops, unprocessed and brimming with delicate aromas, are the key to producing fresh-hopped, or 'green-hopped' beers—an exceptional style known for its vibrant and complex flavors that can't be achieved with dried hops.

The hops used by most brewers worldwide come in the form of either kiln dried whole cones, or in pellets, where the cones have been ground down and pressed for easier use. However, for just a couple of weeks a year, those that are lucky enough to be brewing near one of the finest and oldest hop growing regions in the world, Kent, have access to these hops straight off the bine, when they are at their freshest. 

 

Fresh-hopped beers, often also called ‘green-hopped’ beers, retain many of the delicate aromatics that are lost when the hops get processed, in the same way that dried herbs used in cooking just don’t taste the same as when they are fresh. 

 

If these hops don’t get used within 24 hours of being harvested they can become musty and smell of hay or silage. This is why, when we brewed our own green-hopped beer, Evergreen, we collected 50kg of freshly picked ‘Ernest’ hops directly from our friends at Hukins hop farm the same day that we brewed the beer. 

 

Hukins hops are one of our main suppliers for the British hop varieties that we use, and they were kind enough to show us around in their busiest period of the year. Hop bines were being cut and brought to the processing plant by tractor, where they were attached to a conveyor by hand, one by one, and a giant machine was stripping the hop cones from the rest of the plant. Then it was separated, some ready for brewers like us to collect, but most of it heading straight into the kiln for drying so that it can be stored and used for the rest of the year.

 

Ernest, when dried, produces bright aromas of citrus, apricot and spice. However, when used fresh like this, it has added a wonderfully fruity tangerine and passionfruit aroma that makes the finished beer so special.