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(Courtesy Alaskan Airlines – Ingrid Barrentine)
Fresh hop ales are one of the most celebrated beers in American craft beer, but unfortunately they remain a rarity for much of the world.
Brewed with whole wet cones within 36 hours of harvest, they represent hops in their most natural form and when used immediately can produce some of the most interesting and complex beers in the US.
Fresh hops are typically purchased by breweries located closer to the source, hop farms of the Pacific Northwest where 75% of the nation’s hops are grown. And because they’re so highly perishable fresh hops must be delivered from bine to brewer in 36 hours.
This fall, Alaska Air Cargo delivered the industry’s first and biggest fresh hops run to breweries in Maui and Anchorage within 24 hours of harvest – this was a huge logistical feat that brought a favorite seasonal beer well beyond the Pacific Northwest.
(Courtesy Alaskan Airlines – Ingrid Barrentine)
Alaska Airlines fresh hop beer run went further than any US commercial airline has before by delivering more than 1,200 pounds of fresh hops to Maui Brewing in Hawaii and 49th State Brewing in Alaska.
“This is a potential game-changer for the craft beer industry and farm-to-glass collaboration at its finest,” says Adam Drouhard, cargo managing director for Alaska Airlines, noting that Washington state grows almost three-quarters of the US hop crop. “This puts a Northwest agricultural product in places that don’t normally get it. With the size and scope we have in Seattle, we are really positioned to own this.”
“Scalability of shipping fresh hops has really been the challenge to overcome because you only have about 24 hours from harvest before the hops start to degrade,” said Bryan Pierce, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Yakima Chief Hops.
(Bale Breakers Brewing at Alaska’s North Satellite Lounge in Sea-Tac)
To keep the hops fresh throughout their journey, the harvest was timed perfectly so that the just-picked hops could be bagged onsite at Loftus Ranches, one of Yakima’s longest running family-owned hop farms and the site of Bale Breaker Brewing who helped pull this thing together.
From there the hops were loaded into refrigerated trucks and driven to the Alaska Air Cargo offices at Sea-Tac International Airport just in time to load onto the aircraft. More than 1,200 pounds of hops were shipped nonstop to the brewers.
On Maui and in Anchorage, the brewers were ready to add the fresh hops to the “boil” – the first stage in beer – as soon as they arrived.
When we added the fresh hops, it smelled amazing!” said Kim Brisson-Lutz, Maui Brewing Co.’s Vice President of Operations. “Making beer is a culinary art, and we’re all about making these ingredients really shine.”
“Using Alaska Air Cargo, we can guarantee the supply chain all the way from field to the kettle,” added David McCarthy, co-founder of 49th State Brewing. “We’re excited we can now make the freshest beer in Anchorage and the whole Alaska market.”
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Want more on fresh hops?
FRESH HOPS OVERNIGHTED TO KOREA
FRESH HOP ALES NOT JUST A PACIFIC NORTHWEST THING ANYMORE
(Image credits: Alaskan Airlines – Ingrid Barrentine)
