Every third Thursday in November, France, Wales, and wine-enthusiasts worldwide celebrate the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau—a young, fast-fermented Gamay wine bottled just weeks after harvest. It’s a raucous, gourmet get-down built around light, fruity, easy-to-drink wine.
Here’s the thing, though: The vins de primeur (first wines) that fuel Beaujolais Nouveau celebrations are prized more for their festive spirit than for exceptional quality. While the race to be first to taste a new vintage is clearly a great deal of fun, often, what ends up in the glass is a fruity, bubblegum-like, effervescent wine that pales in comparison to a thoroughly refined Gamay.
Beer, on the other hand, has its own harvest tradition—and instead of producing a novelty, it delivers some of the most vibrant, complex, and downright delicious hoppy beers you’ll ever drink.
The Hop Harvest
Right now, as the hop harvest hits its peak in the Pacific Northwest, there’s a good chance your local brewery is ready to put something ephemeral and extraordinary in your glass.
The Yakima Valley in Washington is to hops what France is to wine grapes. More than one-third of the world’s hops come from Yakima alone—slightly more than Germany, where hops have been cultivated since around 700 AD. Add Oregon’s Willamette Valley (another 5% of global supply), and nearly 40% of the world’s hops are being harvested right now—within a day’s drive of your favorite breweries.
📹 Want to see it? Check out this excellent short film from Yakima Chief Hops:
Wet Hops: As Fresh As Beer Gets
“Wet hops” are hops used straight off the bine, with no drying or processing. To avoid spoilage, the flowers must make it from farm to brewhouse in under 36 hours.
Wet-hop beers are notoriously tricky. Brewers must use far more pounds per barrel than with dried hops, and the flowers are sticky, unwieldy, and unpredictable in flavor. But when it works? The results are astonishing and often showcase intense and atypical flavors and aromas like tomato leaf, tomatillo, pipe tobacco, or wheatgrass.
Wet hop beers are fleeting, sui generis, and mainly limited to breweries located near enough to hop-growing regions. As Bay Area beer drinkers, we are among the lucky few who get to enjoy them annually.
This photo of just-picked Chinook, Comet, and Cascade hops from Big Wave Farm filling up the kettle at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company was taken by HMB's Brewmaster, James Costa, on September 19th. Big Wave Farm supports individuals with disabilities in planning, planting, growing, maintaining, harvesting, and creating produce, eggs, and herbal products for their use and for sale. More info: https://www.bigwaveproject.org/farm/
Fresh Hops: The First Taste of the Harvest
“Fresh hops” can refer to wet hops, but more commonly, the term refers to the first kilned, whole cone hops from the new harvest. These flowers still travel quickly, often reaching breweries within days, and they offer similarly unmatched aromatic intensity with far more predictability.
As Sierra Nevada Brewing explains: “Think of hops like kitchen spices—the flavor of thyme or rosemary right after the jar is opened is far more intense than six months later.” That first beer brewed with a new crop of hops captures that moment of peak pungency.
Unlike wet-hop ales, fresh-hop beers are more widely available, and while not quite as elusive, they still represent a once-a-year treat that no hop-lover should ever miss out on.
Wait… What About Dry-Hopping?
Here’s where beer loves to get confusing. Despite the name, “dry-hopping” isn’t the opposite of wet-hopping. In fact, most wet-hop beers are also dry-hopped—with the wet hops!
Dry-hopping = adding hops late in the brewing process (often to fully fermented beer) to boost aroma and flavor. It’s a technique, not a form of hops.
What This Means For You
Harvest traditions are about the fleeting beauty of seasonal ingredients and the joy of knowing that something we love will carry on for another year. Right now, breweries here in the Bay Area are capturing flavors that will not—and cannot—exist any other time of year. So make sure to visit your favorite brewery taproom soon, because once these beers are gone, you’ll have to wait until the next harvest.
🍻 Upcoming Events at Bay Area Breweries
Saturday, 10/11 — Strike Brewing Anniversary Party (San Jose, CA | Noon–10:00 PM)
Raise a pint with San Jose’s hometown brewery as they celebrate another year of great beer.
More Info → 11th Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, 10/11 — 2ND Annual Downtown Pumpkin Patch at Foxtale Fermentation Project (San Jose, CA | Noon–6:00 PM)
Expect an exciting array of pumpkins for the kids to pick from, plus fall food & drink specials from Foxtale’s new fall ferment releases!
More Info → Picking Pumpkins at Foxtale
Saturday, 10/11 — Banned Books and Brews at Clandestine Brewing (San Jose, CA)
In celebration of Banned Books Week, Clandestine Brewing is partnering with the San Jose Public Libraries for a Freedom to Read initiative.
More Info → Clandestine Brewing welcomes the San José Public Library Foundation
Saturday, 10/11 — Socks & Sandals Day at Humble Sea Brewing (Santa Cruz, CA | Noon–5:00 PM)
The annual over-the-top celebration of Socks & Sandals IPA will feature a makers market, delicious food, slushie machines, and the release of several special versions of Humble Sea's flagship ale!
More Info →Socks & Sandals Day In Santa Cruz!
Saturday & Sunday, 10/11–10/12 — Oktoberfest at Pond Farm Brewing (San Rafael, CA)
German food menu, liters and liters of Festbier, Dunkel, Pilsner, Rauchbier, and Altbier, plus stein holding and many other games!
More Info →Oktoberfest in San Rafael
