You say wet hop; we say green hop–but whatever you call it, beers brewed with freshly picked, undried hops cause a stir on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ok, so it’s not a new trend. Wadworth Brewery in Wiltshire, South West England has been quietly making one annually since 1992 and in America, Sierra Nevada lays claim to making the first wet hop ale–called Harvest–in 1996. Since the late 1990s at a location slap bang in the middle of one of Britain’s hop-growing heartlands–Herefordshire and Worcestershire–Teme Valley Brewery has brewed their green hop ale and gathered others from around the UK for its annual festival held at The Talbot Inn, Knightwick on the second weekend of October each year.

Just down the road is one of the UK’s oldest, Hop Merchants Charles Faram & Co. Managing Director Paul Corbett could be viewed as one of the instigators of the British green hop trend, having suggested that brewers attending the company’s annual hop walk take fresh hops away with them to make beer the next day. “We were asked about these things [more than] 20 years ago and we’d picked up on what’s happening in the States,” he explains. “Back then we used to try and put people off because it was very difficult just to get a few kilos off the end of a hop picking machine and get them to a brewery fresh, but when interest started to grow and with the onset of overnight couriers, it’s now easier for us.” Around five years ago, he was supplying green hops to some 20 brewers, and three years ago, it became 50. But this year, it’s increased to 70 brewers requesting that precious, fresh, green cargo be rushed to their breweries in time to make the light, resinously hoppy delight that is green hop beer.

Perhaps the best indicator of just how much Brits love green hop beer is that the UK’s hop-growing stronghold–Kent in the southeast of England–has founded an annual two-week celebration of the ultimate seasonal beer. Nearly every brewery in the county makes at least one green hop brew for Kent Green Hop Beer Fortnight. The event, which was launched in 2012, is the brainchild of Eddie Gadd of Gadds’ Ramsgate Brewery and Jon Mills of Canterbury Brewers/The Foundry Brewpub. A former green hop beer sceptic, Eddie has become a champion of the style. How so? He was inspired to brew his own green hop beer after a brewer friend from America brought him some US green hop beer to try–and now it’s one of the highlights of his brewing year.

Hops lose many essential oils when dried to preserve them in the traditional way–but all the oils remain in green hops, which means they give beer a noticeably different character. Eddie likens the use of green hops to using fresh instead of dried herbs in cooking. Because green hops behave less predictably than dried ones, each brew is genuinely unique and always results in something special. Drinkers agree. Which means those mad dashes made by British brewers (in Kent, some manage to get hops from bine to the kettle in less than an hour) are well worthwhile.