Fresh hops festival brewing up in Sisters

Forget about fire season - it's fresh hops season.

The Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce will host the third annual Sisters Fresh Hop Festival, Saturday, September 29, from noon to 9 p.m. at the Village Green in Sisters. The event will include the best "fresh hop" brews in the West from several different Oregon breweries, live music, and more.

The Sisters Fresh Hop Festival is the first in a series of Fresh Hop Festivals across the state of Oregon throughout the fall. Admission to the event is free and it is open to all ages. A souvenir taster pint glass is available for $5 and tasting tickets are $1 per 4 oz. taste.

What exactly is a fresh hop beer?

The Oregon Brewer's Guild explains: "Beer is flavored with hops - cone-shaped flowers that imbue the drink with its bitterness, aroma and essence.

Generally hops are kiln-dried to reduce their moisture content, a process that strips the plant of its essential oils, then packed tightly into bales for storage and shipping, a method that crushes the cones, further diminishing the plant's woodsy, grassy character.

With fresh hops beers, whole hop cones are picked straight off the vine, then trucked to the brewery and added directly to the 'hop back' within hours of harvesting.

The beer styles produced vary, but the results remain the same: Earthy beers that are redolent with intense herbal, floral and citric aromas and a pleasing bitterness."

"Using dried hops is like using dried spices in cooking, whereas using fresh hops is like going out to your garden and picking fresh herbs," notes Brian Butenschoen, executive director for the Oregon Brewers Guild. "Fresh hops have a more intense and delicate character to them that really expresses itself in the beer."

Breweries at the Sisters Fresh Hop Festival include: Alameda, Cascade Lakes Brewing, Crux Fermentation, Deschutes Brewery, Fort George Brewing, Lucky Lab Brewing Company, McMenamin's, Ninkasi, Oakshire, Seven Brides and Sisters' own Three Creeks Brewing Company.

Robin Anderson from the Morning Drive on KWPK will kick-start the festival, followed by several live music acts. Sponsors of the 2012 Sisters Fresh Hop Festival include Ray's Food Place, FivePine Lodge & Conference Center, The www.nuggetnews.com">Nugget Newspaper, The Bulletin, Black Butte Ranch and Horizon Broadcasting.

The Chamber offers special thanks to Three Creeks Brewing Company and the Oregon Brewer's Guild for their help and support with this event.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit local non-profit groups and the Sisters Chamber of Commerce High School Scholarship Fund.

For more information contact the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce at 541-549-0251 or www.SistersCountry.com.