Fresh Hop Festival attracts huge crowd

Air fragrant with fresh hop aromas around Village Green Park attracted hundreds of folks to the fifth annual Sisters Fresh Hop Festival on Saturday. A crowd of folks from across the state showed up to sample seasonal brews on tap from the two-dozen Oregon breweries.

Judy Trego, executive director for the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce, was helping with huge incoming lines of folks waiting for their $5 souvenir taster pint glass, sponsored by HopNBean, so they could satisfy their tastebuds with just the right blend of fresh hop beer.

"It seems that we had thousands of people showing up; the line has been down the block at times. This is such a great event and an economical driver for Sisters. We have 40 volunteers helping, and one is at each brew station pouring," said Trego. "We have quite a few new breweries this year."

Susan Toepher, owner of Rat Hole Brewing in Bend, explained the unusual name for her brewery:

"A few years ago when my husband, Al, and I decided to start brewing, my brother said that we could use his old farm in Washington. But when we arrived, all we saw was an old building with less than optimal conditions. I told my brother that is was nothing but an old rat hole. The name stuck, and we now have a pub of our own in Bend with nine beers to choose from, including a vanilla porter and a rotation red that are award-winners."

There was also cider on hand.

Jason West, Oregon sales manager for Reverend Nat's Hard Cider from Portland, explained how the brewery started.

"The owner, Nat West, no relation to me, started the small cidery from the ground up, right in his garage," he said. "I came on board shortly after that in 2013. We use traditional methods with non-traditional ciders. We treat cider like a palette for flavor and use all-natural high quality ingredients."

But the focus was on fresh hop beer.

Hops are the seed cones of the plant species Humulus lupulus, and they're actually very delicate flowers. They don't survive long after being cut, which is why almost all hops are dried immediately after harvest, to preserve the valuable oils and resins that add so much savor and tang to beer. The most desirable qualities that distinguish fresh hops from dry hops are the freshness of the volatile oils. Most hops used by brewers are in dried or pellet form - except for once a year, for a brief time, when breweries brew special beers and ales punctuated with the rich taste of fresh hops direct from the vine.

This fresh hopped beer is prepared to celebrate the end of the harvest.

From fresh hopped pale ales to imperial IPAs, there was something for everyone's taste. Volunteer Bob Buckmann poured fresh hop pale all day for Three Creeks Brewing Company. Folks crowded around the brew station waiting for their taste of the 2014 iteration of Three Creeks Brewing's annual fresh hop pale, which featured 300 pounds of wet centennial hops from BC Farms in Woodburn, Oregon. The abundance of hop in their special brew created spiciness along with classic orange rind notes.

Folks got a chance to vote for their favorite brewery in the People's Choice Best Fresh Hop Beer contest sponsored by FivePine Lodge and Conference Center. Each person who bought a souvenir taster glass received a bottle cap to use as a vote, tossing the cap into a hopper for their favorite brewery.

At the end of the festival, whichever brewery had the most bottle caps would win the coveted Golden Bunny trophy.

This year there was a tie for the award between Three Creeks Brewing Company and Crux Fermentation Project.

"We gave the Golden Bunny Award to Crux to take back to Bend, and are getting another one that will go to our local brewery winner, Three Creeks, soon," said Jeri Buckmann, event coordinator for Sister Area Chamber of Commerce.

A portion of the proceeds benefited local nonprofit groups and the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce High School Scholarship Fund.