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Fresh hop harvesting and beer-making started in Washington’s Yakima Valley just last year.

Here’s how it works: Brewers analyze the moisture level of hop cones by picking one or two off the bine, rubbing them

between their hands to warm and break them, and then sniffing them. After brushing off the plant matter, a sticky yellow residue remains.

Those cones have high levels of. acids, oils, and aromatics, all of which impart unique flavor profiles to beer as it’s being brewed.

Several factors make fresh hops beers uniquely challenging for brewers and desirable for hops enthusiasts. Fresh hops are less concentrated,

so it takes more of them to achieve the same flavor as a beer made with dried and pelletized hops. Fresh hops also provide distinctively grassy,

plant-like, and “green” flavor profiles without the bitterness we associate with IPAs and other beers featuring copious dried hops.

Additionally, fresh hops expire extremely quickly and need to be used roughly within 24 hours of harvest. Yakima in Washington and

Oregon’s Willamette Valley grow the vast majority of American hops, so you’re more likely to see breweries in the Pacific Northwest use freshly harvested hops.