For the seventh consecutive September, Peaks & Pints is throwing a month-long autumn beer party marrying up two popular seasonal beers — fresh hops and Oktoberfest bier. Launching Friday, Sept. 1, Peaks & Pints will tap fresh hop and Oktoberfest beers daily through Saturday, Sept. 30. Expect, at least, two bright, hop-hazy fresh-hop beers on tap AND two clean, hearty Oktoberfest-style lagers on tap. This year, we’re calling our annual celebration, “Peaks and Pints Fresh Hoptoberfest VII Days A Week,” as we’re including other regional fresh hop and Oktoberfest celebration in a monthlong calendar. We’re kicking off Fresh Hoptoberfest with an in-house flight of fresh hop and Oktoberfest beers — a flight we’re calling Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Fresh Hoptoberfest.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Fresh Hoptoberfest
Fort George Half Liter Festbier
5.6% ABV
The identifying characteristic of a festbier is you can pound many a liter. The identifying characteristic of a Fort George Brewery beer is that it contains hops. The identifying characteristic of a Stoup Brewing beer is that it is delicious. Combine these three dominant beer traits and you get Half Liter — a pleasantly earthy, crisply carbonated, reassuringly toasty festbier with a caramel and toasted malt aroma brewed by Fort George and Stoup Brewing that you can pound many a liter.
Reuben’s Festbier
5.8% ABV
Only beer conforming to the Reinheitsgebot laws and brewed within the Munich city limits can be served at Oktoberfest. Beers meeting these criteria are designated “Oktoberfest Bier” although the name also denotes two distinct beer styles: the traditional Märzen style lager and a paler “Festbier” that’s more commonly served at Oktoberfest today. Less malty and more drinkable than Marzën, Reuben’s Brews’ festbier is based on the beer now served at the Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich. Expect layers of biscuity malt and bright orange zest wrapped around a distinct hop punch.
Little Beast Green Keeper
5.2% ABV
Little Beast Brewing’s Green Keeper is a fresh hopped American pale ale and the Portland brewery’s take on the quintessential American craft beer. Made with Pale and Munich malts, it’s wet hopped with hundreds of pounds of Crosby Hops Centennial for slightly grassy, hoppy, and clean flavors.
Two Beers Fresh Hop (2023)
6.2% ABV
First brewed in 2009, hand picking hops that to go from bine to brew in less than 24 hours has become an institution for Two beers Brewing’s Fresh Hop IPA seasonal release. Hand-picked Centennial hops from Puterbaugh Farms, a sense of community with volunteer hop pickers on the Seattle brewery’s loading dock, and perhaps most importantly, a captivatingly hop forward, classic Pacific Northwest style IPA. Fresh Hop IPA features Centennial hops, which provide a juicy citrus aroma with hints of grapefruit and passion fruit. The recipe is rounded out with locally grown Simcoe and Citra hops resulting in a beautifully balanced IPA that packs a hoppy punch.
Double Mountain Killer Red
7.2% ABV, 88 IBU
The birth of Double Mountain Killer Red happened after the choice of hops for the Hood River brewery’s Killer Green Fresh Hop IPA were a little late, so the brewers decided to craft a sister brew with fresh Perle hops to fill the thirsty void. It stuck. This year’s annual fresh hop trip to Crosby Farms in the Willamette Valley for Killer Red Fresh Hop changed with Double Mountain speeding back with fresh Centennial instead. The exorbitant amount of fresh whole-leaf hops heaped into the kettle and hop back give this juiced up IRA wonderful ripe apple, juicy forest, and fruited pine flavors and aromas with a hint of caramel.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
