After years of homebrewing in college, Zach Turner spent 4 years brewing at Odell Brewing, overseeing beer quality, in Fort Collins. In 2012 Zach signed on with Hop Union where he became the director of Quality & Sustainability. His work continued in the same fashion when Hop Union became part of Yakima Chief Hops in 2017. Alternatively, Ty Paxton, originally from nearby Selah, Washington, majored in Marketing & Fine Arts at WSU, and then put his sales, marketing, and design skills to work. Turner and Paxton met by chance at a cider pressing party hosted by mutual friends in 2013. Both had dreamed for years about opening a brewery and 3 years later made it a reality when they purchased a 1970s era JC Penney Tire Center in downtown Yakima, complete with the original brick work and Douglas Fir wood beams supporting 4-inch-thick tongue and groove ceilings. In 2018, Turner (“Director of Liquids” – Head Brewer & GM) and Paxton (“Positive Vibes Director” – Sales & Marketing) opened Single Hill Brewing in the heart of hop country. “Single hill” is a term used to describe the late stages of an experimental hop project, set aside to flourish in its own terroir without disturbing or being impacted by surrounding varietals. Today, Peaks & Pints presents a flight of Single Hill, mostly fresh hop beers, that we’re calling Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Single Hill Fresh Hops.

Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Single Hill Fresh Hops

Single Hill Six Sisters

5.4% ABV

A collaboration with The Yakima Pink Boots Society and PBS Scholarship winners, this easy-drinking fresh hop IPA is brewed with fresh, wet Morrier Ranch and CLS Farms Centennial with freshly dried Morrier Cascade, Wenas Hop Company Mosaic, and Morrier and Double R Hop Ranches Citra for lemon and grass notes.

Single Hill Skyfinder

6.2% ABV

This sky-high, fresh hop hazy IPA adventure feature fresh, wet Roy Farms Strata and Loftus Ranches Simcoe, with freshly dried Roy Strata and Black Star Ranch Simcoe for earth and peach notes.

Single Hill Fresh Hop Lateral A

6.3% ABV

A collaboration with Zeek’s Pizza, this amped up version of their Lateral A IPA includes fresh, wet, Loftus Ranches Krush and Haas Yakima Golding HBC 1019 hops, plus fresh AF pellets of Haas Krush and HBC 1019 for a grapefruit nose, followed by citrus notes and a hint of grassiness.

Single Hill Hoparoo

6.5% ABV

Nine out of 10 fresh hop beers brewed at Single Hill are collaborations. They call their fresh hop collab program “Fresh Hop Rodeo,” releasing three collaborations where the public tastes blind and then votes by dropping a number in a cowboy boot. Living Haus Beer’s Rodeo Clown Car beat Grand Fir and Hetty Alice in the Fresh Hop Rodeo Round One competition. Round Two featured Ladd & Ladd, Ravenna and Fast Fashion collabs brewing with fresh, wet Black Star Ranch Simcoe and Roy Farms Strata. Single Hill Fresh Hop Rodeo #2 winner is … the Ladd & Lass collaboration, which is named Hoparoo, and is also brewed with Krush and HBC 1019 from John I. Haas.

Single Hill Parallax

10.5% ABV

Since Single Hill’s Energy Cone collab didn’t arrive in time for this flight, we end this flight with Single Hill’s American barleywine aged in Westland Single Malt American Whiskey barrels that previously held bourbon and rye whiskey. The oak, vanilla, and spice flavors from these barrels stands up to and balances the driving caramel and butterscotch malt flavors of the base barleywine. Parallax took second place in the 2024 Untapp’d Community Awards for American Barleywine, right below Urban Family.

LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory