Hops harvest at Sodbusters means fresh hops beer at Hop Valley tasting rooms
Every year from late August to early October, a fleet of trucks race back and forth from the fields to the thrasher at Sodbusters Farm in Brooks, Oregon. The harvest lasts for four weeks and runs day and night. While the majority of hops is dried for use all year, Hop Valley Brewing orders fresh hops for a small batch of fresh hops beer.
This year, Brandon Ross, Hop Valley’s district sales manager, made the drive north to load is truck with fresh hops for quick delivery to Hop Valley’s pilot brewery in Springfield.
Brewer Patrick Whiting added the fresh hops to his “DeFreshe Mode” fresh hop pale ale at the Springfield pub pilot brewery. The beer will be a single-malt, specialty aromatic, single hop, Cascade pale ale.
The beer be available at both the tasting room and pub along with select accounts through out Oregon in mid-September.
A worker pulls a stray “bine” to an awaiting truck on the road as it heads back to the plant.
Workers guide each bine (not “vine,” which uses offshoots to climb, whereas a “bine” grows in a helix around an object) into the truck as blades on a tractor bucket cut them away.
Hop Valley Brewing’s Brandon Ross smells the pungent fresh hops. The entire processing plant is filled with strong aroma of the fresh hops.
Sodbusters Farm owner Doug Weathers chats with Ross about this fresh hops order.
Workers unload hops from the constant line of trucks arriving from the fields.
Doug Weathers sews up a bag of fresh hops for deliver to Hop Valley Brewing.
Hop Valley’s Brandon Ross loads a bag of fresh hops into his truck for immediate deliver to Hop Valley’s Springfield small batch brewery.
Hop Valley Brewing’s district sales manager Brandon Ross started his beer career at one of the biggest beer companies in the world, but he much prefers the story of craft brewing. He loves the nuance of flavors and personalities in the craft brewing industry.