Over at the Ventiblog, if you haven't been reading it, Jack is really getting into beer! He's got a terrific post about the fresh hop beers on tap, and if you are wondering what the fuss is about, Venti's has you covered! CT is still working on figuring out fresh hop ales, and finds they vary widely. In some cases other brewing components overshadow the fresh hops, and at least for this taster, in a blind tasting it would not be easy to discern them as fresh hop ales. Others taste remarkably different from beers brewed with dried hops.
If you want to get in on an emerging style, one with great quirks and unevenness and occasional brilliance, and one that is almost uniquely suited to NW brewing, this is the thing to explore! It points, in fact, to one way that beer can successfully mimic wine: terroir & the expression of place. In the best fresh hop ales, you can begin to get a sense of the there there. For they just couldn't be brewed anywhere else.
Lucky Labrador-Das Mütt Pilsner has been tapped at Venti's BBar. Not a great pilsner; but, a very good beer. Ben Flerchinger [Lucky Labrador Brewing Company (SW Quimby)] has brewed another great craft beer / continues to expand the palate.
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