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Fresh hopped beers are excellent tasting and have a very excellent hop flavor. Is it possible to get your hands on fresh hops short of growing them (note I don't have any growing space). I live in Washington state and would be willing to drive to Oregon for the possibility. Anyone have any ideas?

Not very particular about the variety. Was thinking about hitting up some of the Yakima valley growers and see if they wouldn't mind giving up a vine or two. ;-)

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  • Hop Union is selling green hops (fresh hops) in 10lb batches and you can get them shipped almost anywhere! Pretty sweet. Not sure it would be worth driving out there to pick them up but shipping in WA seems amenable: hopunion.com/1029_GreenHops.cfm?p3=open – Chris Plaisier Jun 5 '12 at 20:16
  • They're selling them now? The harvest is late summer/early fall so any "fresh" hops they sell now have been around for 9 months. You might want to wait til Sept. – Denny Conn Jun 5 '12 at 21:01
  • Actually they are taking orders for the fall. And they ship them as soon as harvested with the expectation that the brewer on the other side will use them in 24-48 hours of receiving the shipment. – Chris Plaisier Jun 6 '12 at 20:48
  • Okay. So the deal actually is that Hop Union can't sell to homebrewers, except through BrewCraft or LD Carlson. Talked to Hop Unions northwest sales rep. He was very nice but said basically they contracted out the distribution to homebrewers through those two entities. The good news is that my local homebrew shop will be taking preorders for green hops in July. So a minor set back and now should be getting green hops for a fresh hopped ale. :-) – Chris Plaisier Jun 11 '12 at 15:04
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The hop growers I know around here (I live in OR) are generally great people. I think if you contacted a grower near you in WA and offered to trade beer for hops, you might be in luck. Keep in mind that there's about a 6:1 ratio between wet and dried hops, so you'll need to use a lot more than you're used to using.

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I'd be surprised if you can buy fresh hops since they degrade quickly. If there were someone selling, it would probably be on advance order, local, and collection in person or direct delivery due to perishability, in the same way fresh fish is sold.

You might have more luck if you ask about - you'd be surprised how many people have a female hop plant or two in their garden. I have 3 friends that have offered me hops. They can let you know when the cones are ready, you harvest them and use them the same day or refrigerate for a day or two.

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