Have you noticed the days are growing ever-so-slightly shorter? It's a sign that summer has passed its zenith, and we're edging closer to the harvest season. Each year the Oregon hop harvest begins in the latter half of August--just two weeks from today.

Did you know that hop varieties ripen at different times? This is one way hop growers manage to harvest their entire crop, which takes the better part of a month. Those Citras and Mosaics that make your IPAs? Those come later. First are Strata and Centennial. Farms grow different varieties, but you can get a sense of this by looking at the flow chart from Coleman Agriculture below (click through to see the whole thing).

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News

Steeplejack Manzanita Steeplejack is planning on opening a new pub in Manzanita--but not at the location they announced three years ago. The cozy news space will feature a full menu and an arcade for kids. More on the new place here

Old Standby + Rogue The latest charity collab between Old Standby features Rogue Brewing. Proceeds benefit Marine Veteran-run Courtney Place Veterans Housing in downtown Salem. Look for a release Aug 15 at Rogue Salem. Old Standby Collabs

Best of the West Awards Hosted by the Oregon Brewers Guild and featuring breweries from 22 states, this prestigious fest offers bragging rights to the best IPAs out there--judged by brewers themselves. See the winners here ​

Mecca Grade Sold Oregon lost an important resource on July 1 when Mecca Grade, an estate malthouse in Central Oregon, announced its closure. The buyer will not grow or malt barley going forward. Read their announcement ​

Brewer Interviews Craft Beer & Brewing's publisher, Jamie Bogner, was in Portland to judge the Best of the West competition. While in town, he sat down with Ruse's Shawn Kalis and Grand Fir's Whitney Burnside for the magazine's podcast.

Why Oregon is Special In Oregon, you can find locally-brewed beer at movie theaters, in dive bars, bowling alleys, the finest restaurants ... and laundromats. Read about Portland's Spin Laundry Lounge and their suds! Here's the story ​

Fresh Hop Celebration
Sept 19 - Oct 5

The Portland Fresh Hop Pop-Up Beer Fest returns for its 10th year in 2025 at Portland’s Prost! Marketplace and cart pod on N. Mississippi Ave. In this special event, different categories of fresh-hop beers are scheduled for each of the fest's 17-day run. The schedule is still being organized, so watch these pages for details on the daily activities. Rev up your taste buds in the meantime and ...

Save the dates!

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Upcoming Events

Please send us all your upcoming event information at the following email so we can include them in our weekly roundups: events@celebrateoregonbeer.com

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50-year Collaboration Just beyond the Benedictine Brewery taproom lie hop fields tended by Coleman Ag, and the two are celebrating this 50-year partnership with a collab and harvest kick-off on August 8. Full details here

Leikam's 11th Birthday Brewery cat Puck is leading a celebration for Leikam's 11th anniversary Saturday, August 9th. That means a slate of cat-focused, fun activities, new beer releases, and a comedy night. More info

Kölsch Party! ​Gigantic's Kölsch Party is returning Sat, August 16th. Try a kölsch from 10 NW breweries--and two from Cologne! Commemorative "stange" glass, cool tunes, sausage, and pretzels. Prost! Breweries and other details ​

Level Lager League A cross-town rival event also happening August 16th is Level's debut lager fest. Twelve breweries, a people's choice award, dizzyball, lawn games, live music, hot dogs, and fun for the whole family! Breweries and more info ​

Albany Beer "Run" On Saturday, Sept 6, join one of the shortest races in Oregon! A .3k course takes you from Calapooia Brewing two blocks to Deluxe Brewing. You can score a beer in both locations. Proceeds benefit the Lions Club. More info and registration

Oregon Hop Festival Join Crosby Hop Farm at their TopWire beer garden-in-a-hop-field for beer collaborations, live music, and behind-the-scenes tours of the hop harvest September 6-7. It's the farm's 125th anniversary, so come celebrate! Details and tickets ​

Spotlight: Oregon-bred Hop Nears Debut

Back in the middle of the last century, the USDA embarked on a hop breeding project that would ultimately change beer. Their goal at the time was to help American breweries make their domestic lagers with high-quality locally-grown hops. It didn’t really work out that way. Instead, their punchy, expressive first effort, the Cascade hop, was too aromatic and flavorful for the Coors and Buds of the land. Instead, those hops inspired homebrewers in the 1970s who would found their own small-scale operations go on to develop American pale ales and IPAs.

Once that market developed, commercial breeders saw an opportunity to make money offering new cultivars, and from the late aughts on, they have dominated the field for new hops. The initial phase of the public hop-breeding program was hugely successful, and produced a number of excellent cultivars like Willamette, Nugget, Crystal, and Mt. Hood. Those were hops for a different era, however, and when the Hop Breeding Company and others entered the market, they made the hops that would transform American IPAs (Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe, etc). Public hop-breeding slowed or stopped for a time, until craft brewers got together to support the USDA program, with a high-tech focus on modern hops.

The USDA has released some hops in recent years (Triumph, Vista, and Vera), but one series of elite lines funded by the Hop Quality Group (HQG) has some brewers very excited, and the first hop from their program is about to get its name and go into wider production. It’s currently called HQG-4, and it is the product of not just conventional breeding, but advanced chemical analysis to identify the high-thiol varieties used to make hoppy American ales. It should receive that name in mere weeks, and you can already get a taste of it in beers made by Eugene's Ninkasi Brewing.

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Keeping Up

For everything Oregon, please visit the Celebrate Oregon website.If you think someone you know might like this newsletter, have them sign up here.

Celebrate Oregon Beer is supported by the Oregon Brewers Guild and Oregon Hop Commission.

Excellent journalism is of the many ways Oregon is so special. In between newsletters, be sure to check out these sites for the latest happenings:

• ​The New School​
• ​The Oregonian​
• ​Astoria Beer Zone​
• ​Brewpublic​
• ​Beervana Blog​

See you again in two weeks!