University students and locals got their “hop” on at the third-annual Willamette Valley Fresh Hop Festival on Saturday, Oct. 8.
The event, which took place at the Lane Events Center, featured more than 40 beers brewed by Oregon breweries. All of the beers specialized in a style unique to the Northwest, which spotlights strong, “hoppy” flavors in various types of beers.
Of the 40 beers present, 18 varieties used “wet hops,” a technique that requires brewing with hops the same day they’re harvested from the fields.
“The biggest thing when you’re talking about wet hop beer is that you want to get them as fresh from the fields as possible,” said Matt Van Wyk@@http://oakbrew.com/2009/03/02/matt-van-wyk-to-brew-at-oakshire-brewing/@@, brewmaster for Oakshire Brewery.

To get the amount of hops needed for a wet hop beer within the tight time frame, farmers must work the fields constantly.
“They’re picking hops 24 hours a day,” Van Wyk said.
He explained that hoppy beer is generally made by adding hops throughout the brewing process to the “wort,” the boiling mixture that eventually becomes beer after a fermentation process. Traditionally, though, hops that have been dried, or condensed into “pellets,” are what is added to the wort.
Using wet hops allows for different types of flavors that are lost in the drying or pelleting process, but requires a different technique.
“You must use more wet hops because of their higher water content,” said Terry Butler@@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/terry-butler/33/b16/87@@, a brewer for Oakshire. Wet hops contain about five times as much water as dry hops@@http://oakbrew.com/2009/09/03/fresh-hop-beer-wet-hop-beer-what-is-it/@@.
Oakshire’s wet hop beer for the event, called “Triune@@http://oakbrew.com/2011/10/08/single-batch-series-beers-roll-on/triune-wet-hop/@@,” contains three different types of wet hops – Fuggle hops, Cascade hops and Nugget hops.
In Triune, wet hops made up a ratio of 160 pounds to 900 gallons of wort. Had the beer used pellet hops, it would have only required about 50 pounds of hops.
@@http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/ADMD/cc_list01.shtml@@Oregon has the second highest quantity of hop production, following only behind Washington, according to the Oregon Hop Commission@@http://oregonhops.org/@@.
Unlike wine, which is produced in greater quantities in California, hops require different levels of moisture, sunlight and other factors.
“Our latitude is just about perfect,” said Mike Seestadt@@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mike-seestadt/5/94/301@@, Northwest regional manager of HopUnion, a major hop distributor in the Northwest.
Seestadt explained that the climate in Oregon and Washington is ideal for growing hops with high alpha acids, the oils that give them their bitterness or aroma.
And although the Willamette Valley is ideal for hop production, Washington’s sunny Yakima Valley has about four to five times the amount of hop farmers.
Hoppy beers are much different than traditional lagers such as Budweiser and Miller Genuine Draft, but their popularity is growing at a rapid rate.
“Everyone is moving toward an IPA,” Seestadt said.
“It’s really interesting how it’s taken off,” Van Wyk said. “People’s palates change. As beer becomes more about flavor and less of an alcohol vehicle, people are enjoying hoppier beer styles more.”