Even within the rarefied category of wet-hopped beers, Fremont stands out. Their deservedly laudatory Field to Ferment series serves to kick-start the autumn every year, with a judicious 6% pale ale base upon which the fresh green hop-cones are allowed to express themselves. The first of this perennial favorite distributed to California this year is a single hop expression of Centennial. Drink now – it won’t get any fresher!

Yet who says that only IPAs deserve the fresh-hop treatment? Oregon lager stalwart Heater Allen has sent us a beloved annual harvest seasonal featuring the classic Willamette varietal. While justly prized for its Pinot Noir, the eponymous valley (frequently mispronounced by outsiders – the rhyming mnemonic “It’s Willamette, dammit!” reveals a certain prickly pride) also grows exceptional hops. Characterized by complex herbal, spicy aromas attesting to their UK parent origins, Willamette hops represent a throwback to a simpler time in independent craft-brewing, yet are utilized in an exciting new way by Heater Allen in this pale lager.

 

Fans of Austrian and/or natural wine will instantly recognize the cow-shaped outline on the label of this most unusual beer, as it also emblazons the bottles by Meinklang in the Burgenland. Many regulars at Bottlecraft North Park have had their first exposure to orange wine through the winery’s Weißer Mulatschak, and the sparkling rosé of PInot Noir (entitled “Prosa”) is phenomenally popular. As it turns out, they also grow grains on their farmstead – this beer is brewed with spelt from the estate as well as barley & wheat harvested in the vicinity. In an unforeseen trinational collaboration, Freigeist Bierkultur from Germany and Stillwater out of Maryland have joined forces to produce this beautiful high-gravity saison, replete with phenolic aromas from the rustic farmhouse ale yeast.