If you love fresh-hopped beer, you better clear your calendar this Saturday. Huss Brewing will debut Fresh Magic, a fresh-hopped version of its Magic in the Ivy pale ale.
The hops literally were still on the vine at a northern California hop farm last week when 50 pounds were picked and overnighted to the southern Tempe brewery.
“We used our Magic in the Ivy as a base,” says brewer Jeff Huss. “We put the fresh hops in as soon as they came in. (We) drop hopped with Cascade, Columbus, and Centennial hops 26 hours off of the vine.”
Huss hasn’t filtered the beer yet, but expects to end up with about 28 barrels, which will be on tap when the taproom doors open at noon Saturday.
Fresh-hopped beers typically come out in September, “but this hop farm has an earlier harvest than most,” Huss says.
While he brewed a fresh-hopped beer a few years ago when he worked at BJ’s, but this is a first for his own year-old brewery. All the special arrangements are worth it, Huss says.
“I really like fresh-hopped beers a lot,” he says.
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