Brewery Visits

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.

BALE BREAKER BREWING – YAKIMA, WA

‘Tis the season for colorful leaves, Oktoberfests, fresh hop ales and pumpkin beers! After attending Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, Hoppy tried unsuccessfully to obtain tickets to a sold-out Yakima Fresh Hop Festival. Instead of pining away, Hoppy went directly to the hop fields and Bale Breaker Brewing where they craft fresh-off-the-farm brews from their family’s fourth generation hop farm. They started brewing in 2013 and have since grown to become Washington State’s fourth largest independent craft brewery, with a 30-barrel brewhouse at a 27,000 square foot facility.

While there, Hoppy was able to drink a flight of six fresh hop ales. These were:

Rollin’ Cones Fresh Hop Cold IPA Pinthouse Collab – Brewed with Pinthouse Brewing from Austin, TX. It features fresh picked Citra hops paired with Simcoe, HBC 586, Mosaic and Superdelic hops which give this crisp IPA citrus, tropical and honeydew aromas. 6.8% ABV, 45 IBU.

The George & Brian Fresh Hop IPA – Described as brewed with flaked rice and lager yeast this Mosaic fresh hop IPA is light-bodied yet intensely aromatic with a smoot finish. Featuring fresh Mosaic, HBC 586 Cryo and Nectaron hops for pineapple, peach, spruce and resin aromatics. 6.6% ABV, 48 IBU.

Citra Slicker Fresh Hop IPA Cloudburst Collab – This is a Citra fresh hop collaboration with Cloudburst Brewing in Seattle. 6.2% ABV, 60 IBU.

Homegrown Fresh Hop IPA – Features Bale Breaker’s homegrown hops and barley. 6% ABV, 60 IBU.

Fresh Hop Frenz IPA Russian River Collab – This is a fresh hop West Coast IPA collaboration with Russian River Brewing from Santa Rosa and Windsor, California. It is described as releasing captivating aromas of grapefruit, peach, mango and resin and features freshly picked Simcoe, Citra cryo, and HBC 586 hops. 6.9% ABV, 65 IBU.

Piled High Fresh Hop IPA – Brewed in the middle of a hop field this might just be one of the freshest fresh hop beers around. It took just four minutes to get these wet Citra hops out of the picking machine at Loftus Ranches and into the brew kettle. 6.9% ABV, 75 IBU.

My fave that night was the Rollin’ Cones, however I have had the Fresh Hop Frenz again since, and I believe that to be one of my favorite beers ever!

Pictures from the Yakima taproom follow:

VOODOO BREWING – KNOXVILLE, TN

Hoppy’s next visit was at Voodoo Brewing in the Bearden area of Knoxville. It was a franchise taproom of the brewery that’s located in Meadville, PA and opened in 2005. The Knoxville location has recently closed.

While there, Hoppy quaffed a Voodoo Love Child Fruited Belgian Tripel Ale that is described as delicately aged on sour cherries, raspberries and passionfruit to produce moderately sweet fruit notes on top of traditional Belgian yeast character. It is 9.2% ABV.

Pictures follow:

CRAFTY BASTARD BREWERY – WEST – KNOXVILLE, TN

Hoppy’s travels next took him to the Crafty Bastard Brewery – West in Knoxville. This location in West Knoxville, their second, opened in 2021. The night that Hoppy was there was an away game for the Tennessee Vols, and it was packed with their fans. He did not have time for a beer, but he was happy to see his sticker in place on the cooler sticker door. His visit to the original Crafty Bastard Brewery can be found here.

Pictures of the visit follow: