The beer arrived in a “Hop Inciter 3000” (a large French press of the kind used for steeping coffee) loaded with a heaping handful of whole hop flowers.

Hop harvest marks the start of fresh (or wet) hop beer season. To recap, fresh hop beers utilize recently harvested (within ~36 hours), unprocessed whole hop flowers in the brewing process.

These hops are referred to as “wet hops.” Whole fresh hop cones provide a more grassy and juicy aroma and flavor to the beer by retaining precious lupulin oils from the hop flower.

Hop extract, of course. Many brewers rely on this condensed, amber, extremely bitter paste to add flavor to their beer without the bulky mess involved in using whole flower hops or hop pellets.

Brewing with whole, fresh, hop flowers is a process known as “wet hop.” This type of beer has grown in popularity over the past decade, but it’s not cheap to produce.

The flowers pass through a series of rolling sieves, separating the concentrated packets of hop oils from the leaves. 2. Debittered Leaves ...