What is fresh hop?

Our new beer Howler is an homage to fresh hops. In this beer, the hops go directly from the field to your glass – you can't get it any fresher! In this blog, we'll take you on a journey through the world of fresh hop beers, our Klophop, explore the Styrian Wolf hops we used in Howler, and discover what makes it so special!

What are Fresh Hop beers?

Fresh hop beers, also known as wet hop beers, form a special category in the world of craft beer. What distinguishes this style from other beers is that it is brewed with hop flowers directly from the field. Normally, hop flowers are dried and then pressed into hop pellets and added to the brew this way. With fresh hop beers, the flowers are not dried, giving the beer unique flavours. Fresh hop beers are fresh, fuller, and greener in taste.

Every sip of Howler is a tribute to the power of nature

Brewing fresh hop beers requires close collaboration between the hop farmer, transporter, and brewer because fresh hops simply don't last very long. To ensure our fresh hops were truly fresh, Hollands Hophuis handled the transportation themselves. The hops were transported from Slovenia to the brewery in refrigerated transport. As a result, the hops were still super fresh when they arrived less than 24 hours later.

The magic of Styrian Wolf HopsThis year, we managed to obtain 'Wolf' hops from Slovenia for our fresh hop beer "Howler". The absolute star of Howler is, of course, the 'Wolf' hop, to be precise, 'Styrian Wolf'. This hop variety originates from the Styria region in Slovenia, a well-known area when it comes to hops.

Wolf owes its name to the distinct and wild character of the hop variety. Wolf hops are rich in oils and aromas, making them perfect for brewing beers with a pronounced hop flavour. Brewing a Fresh Hop beer

Brewing a fresh hop beer is the same as brewing any other beer. It is milled, mashed, filtered, boiled, the wort goes through the whirlpool and is cooled, fermented, aged, and centrifuged. After this process, the beer goes to the BBT, the Bright Beer Tank, to calmly await bottling. This is the moment in the process when we added the fresh hops to the beer. Wolf was harvested 24 hours prior from a hop field in Slovenia and transported to our brewery with refrigerated transport. Immediately upon arrival, after a quality inspection by Sander, Ronald, and the brewing team, it was time to put the hops into the tank.

After the hops had been in the tank for one day, it was time for the first tasting round. During this tasting, it is assessed whether the beer has achieved the desired hoppiness or whether the hops can remain in the tank a little longer. It was decided to leave the hops in the tank for another day to bring out the unique characteristics of the fresh hops even more.

EnjoyHowler, of course, needs to be drunk as fresh as possible and is therefore only bottled in kegs. Do you want to enjoy a delicious fresh glass of Howler? Then visit one of our hospitality venues or check out your local pub; who knows, you might find it there too!

KlophopHowler is not the only Fresh Hop beer from our brewery. Every year, we brew Klophop, a beer with hops from hundreds of backyards across the country. For Klophop, we use wet hops in the brewing process. Do you want to become a hop farmer too? In the spring, we distribute plants with orders from our webshop.