Two weeks in the life of Fremont Brewing's Field to Ferment Fresh Hop Pale Ale.
It’s not every day you get a personal invitation from a brewery to visit the source of their hops. So when Fremont Brewing asked if we would be interested in a visit to Carpenter Ranches, located just outside of Yakima, we didn’t hesitate. This is the brewery and the farms story.
Carpenter Ranches at at Sunrise/ Northwest Beer Guide™
On a Friday morning, around 2 am, when many a dipsomaniac, wassailer, and carouser have been ejected after last call - the men and women of the farming community are hard at work, harvesting in the lupulin vines of the Yakima Valley. Like so many before him, sixth-generation farmer Brad Carpenter stands against a backdrop which transitions with the hours, from indigo to crimson, orange, and gold. Brad Carpenter, like his predecessors and fellow farmers in the valley, grows and reaps hops used during this rarest time of the year, the hop harvest.
Brad Carpenter/Northwest Beer Guide™
Standing slightly over six-feet tall, with a face complimented by a five o’clock shadow dotted with salt-like flecks, Carpenter surveys the progress on this year’s crop of hops with names like Centennial, Citra, or Simcoe - harvested by multi-generational families of pickers and Carpenters working side-by-side. To an untrained eye the choreography performed by tractors, forklifts, and farmhands, complimented with a white noise soundtrack of conveyor belts and large-horsepower fans might seem chaotic. To breweries like Fremont, who produce the unique Field to Ferment Fresh Hop Pale Ale, the energetic din comforts and reminds them of this special window between when hops are released off the vine and prior to being dried for warehouse storage.
Fresh off the vine Simcoe hops, for Fremont Brewing Company/ Northwest Beer Guide™
Harvesting at day-break/Northwest Beer Guide™
As the sun continues its stroll along the blue curtain, the farming equipment transitions from their early morning darkness to dawn-lit silhouettes, standing-out against the hills of the Valley. With each passing moment, cardboard hoppers (also known as vegetable crates) are filled with Simcoe hops to be shipped off to Fremont Brewing’s production brewery, located in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. An hour later, a semi begins the 2.5 hour journey, winding along interstates and highways.
Fremont Brewing’s Ethan sampling fresh Simcoe / Northwest Beer Guide™
Across the state and an hour before sunrise, multi-year Fremont Brewing veteran brewer Ethan arrives in preparation for brewing 2018’s Field to Ferment Fresh Hop Pale Ale made with Simcoe hops from Carpenter Ranches. A seasoned brewer of Fremont, Ethan starts the morning by grinding up the necessary malted grains needed to make this year’s Field to Ferment with fresh-cut Simcoe hops, before adding it to the 80 barrel brewery’s mash tun. As this occurs, many other employees execute their tasks ranging from fermentation sterilization, to transferal from the fermenter into brite tanks, where they will be once again transferred into cans, bottles, and kegs of Fremont Brewing beer.
Fresh cut Carpenter Ranches Simcoe/Northwest Beer Guide™
As the staff work, a sort of brewery playlist echoes against the interior “furniture” composed of everything from wooden barrels, stainless steel fermenters, and concrete. Not long into Ethan’s morning, he adds the first and second hop additions which will stabilize the beer by providing first bitterness followed by character. Shortly after, a crew of 3 stand on the brewery platform as a forklift operator delivers the first of several boxes of fresh Simcoe hops. With each elevated arrival, the box is loaded onto a platform before a series of pulleys and levers deposit the green nuggets into the mouth of the whirlpool kettle. Within approximately 30-40 minutes, all that remains are a pile of collapsed cardboard material, no longer geometrically recognizable, and fresh hops strewn near the brewery platform like confetti at a post-Super Bowl parade.
Multi-year veteran brewer Ethan/Northwest Beer Guide™
With the morning sun transitioning overhead into the afternoon, Ethan transfers this batch of Simcoe Field to Ferment into a now evacuated fermenter, which is where it will rest for a few weeks. Starting first by allowing a sigh of relief to escape, Ethan lets a previously restrained smile creep across his face as he looks forward to another post-work afternoon with his greatest reward: his newborn and infant children waiting for his return. It’s now around 2 pm and the next herd of brewers, cellarman, and canners have arrived in relief.
Almost two weeks later and a shortly before 11 am, Fremont Brewing Company's staff arrive in preparation for the release of the second of three Field to Ferment Fresh Hop Pale Ales, made with Simcoe hops. Like ants hauling leaves through a forest, beertenders and managers load hand trucks with cases of Field to Ferment onto the elevated platform descending to the floor of the Urban Beer Garden tasting room, before installing the recently-canned Fresh Hop Pale Ale into empty refrigeration shelves.
Two pints of Field to Ferment Simcoe Fresh Hop Pale Ale anyone? / Northwest Beer Guide™
An hour before noon, a line already forming outside is welcomed with the turning of the bolt on the entrance to the taproom. One by one, a cornucopia of men with beards in various stages of age enter, along with women both young and old, all eager to enjoy the second edition of Field to Ferment. For some, the opportunity to enjoy a freshly-poured FtF (Field to Ferment) directly from the tap is enough. For others, a six-pack encourages mad experimentation, as they crack open can after can, each a week older than the previous.
Two for now, six for later. / Northwest Beer Guide™
From farmer, to brewer, to glass, Fremont Brewing Company’s Field to Ferment Fresh Hop Pale Ale is a rewarding reminder how ‘fortunate in luck’ we are to enjoy beers truly fresh off the vine.
