Brewery Visits

MOUNTAINS WALKING & NEW HOKKAIDO BREWING – BOZEMAN, MT

The next stop for Hoppy was in Bozeman at Mountains Walking Brewing which also brews for their subsidiary, New Hokkaido Brewing. They opened in 2017, have over fifteen house brewed beers on tap and serve scratched made food.

As well as a couple of brews, Hoppy also enjoyed their wood fired pizza which was made with dough that has a 48-hour cold fermentation process.

The beers that he imbibed were as follows:

New Hokkaido Yabai Tanuki Cold IPA – Described as using big rice additions of Hokkaido rice and jasmine rice in the grain bill to accentuate a clean canvas concept. Hopped with new New Zealand variety Kohai and Galaxy hops, expect big aroma and flavor notes of papaya, kiwi and mixed berry. Pours very pale in color and bone dry in the finish, each sip welcomes the next. 6.9% ABV, 65 IBU.

Mountains Walking Twisted Karma MT Huckleberry Sour – Described as a sour golden ale brewed with 100% local Gallatin Valley Malt and fermented with huckleberry and natural flavors. Pours vibrant fuchsia in color with upfront tartness and exciting berry flavor and aromas. 5.3% ABV.

Pictures from the visit follow:

DAFT BADGER BREWING – COEUR d’ALENE, ID

Hoppy’s first stop on his “Back Home Again” trip was at Daft Badger Brewing in Coeur d’Alene. They are a neighborhood ten-barrel brewpub that opened in 2015 that is committed to excellent food and carefully brewed beer. Having been here before, he was not only looking for a good beer, but also their pulled pork nachos!

While there, Hoppy enjoyed an Experimental Fresh Hop IPA which uses an experimental hop, HBC 586, from Perrault Farms in the Yakima area. It is described as a bit of a sweet fruit aroma with that big hop bite most are looking for in a fresh hop beer. It is 5% ABV, 40 IBU.

Pictures from his visit follow:

WHISTLE PUNK BREWING – SPOKANE, WA

Next stop? Whistle Punk Brewing in Spokane. What does Whistle Punk mean, you ask? It is an obsolete term for a beginner lumberjack from the early days of North American logging. (See here.)

They were established in 2015 and opened their taproom in 2017. They state that they, “craft traditional ales and lagers inspired by the Pacific Northwest.”

While there Hoppy enjoyed a Whistle Punk Fernhopper IPA – described as a West Coast IPA brewed with LINC Malts and hopped with El Dorado, Mosaic, and Chinook hops. Prominent bitterness, with a juicy finish. Notes of orange peel, pineapple, and pine. 7.2% ABV.

Photos follow:

TEN PIN BREWING – MOSES LAKE, WA

Hoppy’s next brewery visit was at Ten Pin Brewing in Moses Lake. Their grand opening was in July 2013, they doubled their production capacity to six barrels in November of that year and expanded to a new production facility in March of 2016. Where else can you find a tap house that includes a brewery, restaurant, bowling center, arcade and a casino? On the same property is located the production brewery, Ten Pin Inn & Suites, a miniature golf course, and Ten Pin Territory Park, a relaxing green area for outdoor events.

Hoppy enjoyed the following brews during his visit:

Ten Pin Head Pin IPA – Described as a strong, pleasantly bitter American IPA showcasing the mango and earthy pine flavors of Mosaic hops blended with the citrus flavors of Centennial and Citra hops. 6.25% ABV, 55 IBU.

Bale Breaker Fresh Hop Frenz IPA Collaboration with Russian River Brewing – Described as a fresh hop West Coast IPA releasing captivating aromas of grapefruit, peach, mango and resin and featuring freshly picked Simcoe, Citra cryo and HBC 586 hops. Made with their Frenz for you to drink with yours. 6.9% ABV, 65 IBU.

Pictures follow:

ICICLE BREWING – LEAVENWORTH, WA

Icicle Brewing was established in 2010 and they moved into their current location in 2011. In 2019, a new brewery and packaging facility was constructed in Leavenworth and a new 5-barrel experimentation brewery was added to their original location to allow for continued innovation and to bring more beer varieties to their patrons. (Incidentally, the entire town center of Leavenworth is modeled on a German Bavarian village as part of a civic initiative that began in the 1960s. The town is a major, four-season tourist destination with festivals nearly every month and a multitude of events of which Icicle Brewing is a part.)

While there, as a prelude to Leavenworth’s famous Oktoberfest celebration, Hoppy quaffed the ale that won Best of Show at the recently conducted 2023 Yakima Fresh Hop Festival! This was the Fresh Hop Alpenhaze. It is described as a tasty n’ juicy fresh hop ale that began with their Alpenhaze base beer and was dry hopped with lots of fresh Citra hops from CLS Farms. It was brewed on their small batch pilot system and takes an already great beer and adds that little extra goodness that can only come from the fresh hop harvest. It is 6% ABV and the IBU is listed as too fresh!

Pictures follow:

SINGLE HILL BREWING – YAKIMA, WA

Yakima, which is considered the hop capital of the U.S., if not the world, is also home to Single Hill Brewing which was Hoppy’s next visit in his exploration of fresh hop ales. They opened their doors in June 2018 with a vision of Single Hill as a hub and supporter of three different communities: their Coworkers, the people that make up Single Hill; their Home, the Yakima Community; and their Profession; their fellow brewers and the suppliers that support them.

Single Hill was having a third round of a fresh hop competition, at the time, which they called a Fresh Hop Rodeo. It consisted of three fresh hop IPAs in which Single Hill collaborated with three different breweries using a base of fresh, wet, Hopsteiner Sultana and Haas HBC 1019. Hoppy drank a flight of these three beers along with five other fresh hop ales that were on draft. They were as follows:

California Tristan Fresh Hop IPA – Brewed with Highland Park Brewing out of Los Angeles. The Rodeo 3 base was elevated with a generous serving of dried Citra from Loza Farms, HBC 1019 from Haas, and Loftus Ranches Idaho7. 6.5% ABV, 45 IBU. (This was the winning beer of the third round of the Fresh Hop Rodeo.)

Social Piranha Fresh Hop IPA – Brewed with Obelisk Beer Co. from Astoria, OR. In addition to the Rodeo 3 base, it was dry hopped with Loza Farms Citra, Perrault586, Haas 1019 and Segal Ranch Anchovy hops. 6.5% ABV, 45 IBU.

Bridal Threat Fresh Hop IPA – Brewed with ISM Brewing, out of Long Beach, CA. ISM stacked the Rodeo 3 base with CLS Farms Chinook, Van Horn Farms Mosaic and 2023 Cascade Cryo. 6.5% ABV, 45 IBU

Green Harvester Fresh Hop IPA – Fresh, wet, Loftus Ranches and Tributary Hop Farms Mosaic with Fresh AF Pellets of Loftus HBC 630 and Idaho 7. Collaboration with Bale Breaker Brewing, Yakima. 6.3% ABV, 45 IBU.

Fresh Hop Lateral A Juicy IPA – Described as juicy, dreamy, fresh. An amped up version of Lateral A with fresh, wet Loftus Ranches HBC 586 and fresh AF pellets of Perrault Farms HBC 586 & Talus and Haas Yakima Golding HBC 1019. Collaboration with Zeeks Pizza, Seattle. 6.4% ABV, 60 IBU.

Energy Cone Fresh Hop IPA – Featuring fresh, wet Citra from Sauve and Son Farms & Loza Farms, Cashmere from Cornerstone Ranches; with Fresh AF Pellets of Cornerstone Cashmere, Loza Farms Citra, and CLS Farms Zappa. Collaboration with Bottleworks and Full Throttle Bottles in Seattle, and Bridge & Tunnel in Astoria, OR. 6.4% ABV, 40 IBU.

Cones of Hopshire Fresh Hop IPA – Featuring HBC 586 from Haas Yakima Golding Farms and Amarillo from Virgil Gamache Farms, this Fresh Hop IPA knows that it’s all about the cones. Collaboration with Urban Family Brewing, Seattle. 6.5% ABV, 50 IBU.

Fresh Hopped Charro Bebop IPA – Brewed with Wet Newhouse Simcoe, Haas Citra and Loza Rainier. Fresh AF pellets of Haas Citra, Loza Amarillo, CLS Zappa and Van Horn Cascade. International collaboration with Transpeninsular and Aguamala of Ensenada, Mexico and DevilCraft and Inkhorn Brewing of Tokyo, Japan. 6.5% ABV, 50 IBU.

Hoppy’s favorite was the Cones of Hopshire.

Pictures at Single Hill follow.