Beer festival keeps crowd hopping

A sunny autumn day with a refreshing lack of smoke greeted beer lovers on Saturday for the third annual Fresh Hop Festival held at Village Green Park. Twelve craft brewers, all from Oregon, participated in the celebration of a wide variety of Hop beers.

Jeri Buckmann, events director for the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce commented, "This is the third year and it's getting bigger every year. There are a lot of beer festivals and events like that, so we thought it would be fun and different to focus on hop beers, and that's the qualification for the brewers."

Breweries represented this year included Alameda Brewing and Lucky Labrador Brewing from Portland; Ninkasi Brewing and Oakshire Brewing from Eugene; and local brewers Deschutes Brewing from Bend, Cascade Lakes Brewing from Redmond, and Sisters' own Three Creeks Brewing Co. The farthest-traveled participant was Fort George Brewing from Astoria.

Hops are used as a flavoring, imparting a bitter, tangy flavor to the beer. The first documented use of hops in beer was in the 11th century by brewers in Bavaria and other parts of Europe. Depending upon the recipe, hops also impart a sweetness to the malt, contributing a wide variety of flavors and aromas. The Yakima Valley in Washington, and the Willamette Valley in Oregon are world-renowned for the quality of hops produced.

Hops are usually dried before use, but the hops used for the beer on display on Saturday are often used immediately after harvest and adds to the unique, bitter flavor that hop-beer drinkers enjoy and brewers strive to achieve.

Shelley Urben and husband Josh from Beavercreek, Oregon, were on hand for the festival this year. She is a craft brewer in her own right.

"I pretty much brew a little of everything, but I like the bitter flavor the hops add," she said. "I get my hops from a store but we just grew our first crop of hops. I like just getting them off the vine and throwing them right in the brew. I just brewed one with black pepper kernels and some orange peel, and it came out quite tasty."

Jeff McDonald, general manager of Ray's Food Place and title sponsor of the event, was on hand again for the festival.

"Love beer," he said. "The difference between fresh hops beer and other beers is that they grab the hops right from the field and dump right into the beer, often within an hour of harvesting. The beers are all so different. I haven't found two that are even similar, from the type of hops used to the style of beer, there's pales, IPAs all made from fresh hops and they all use different types of hops."

The names of the beers on hand were a testament to the varieties and creativity of the brewers. From McMennamin's "Thundercone Fresh Hop Ale," Seven Brides' "Fresh Hop Ember," to Three Creeks' new "2012 Cone Lickr's Fresh Hop Pale," there was something for everybody.

There was live music from The Traveling Big Deals, and Eleven Eyes, adding to the festive atmosphere of a classic Sisters autumn day.