Tonight we were able to get our palates around a flavorsome new maltilicious Full Sail fresh hop beer. Despite the hoparazzi not having many cameras handy, we can confirm that Oregon Guildmeister Brian Butenschoen was on hand to quaff the birra delicioso. Here’s an incriminating cell phone photo taken by Brewpublic’s own Margaret Lut.

Gearing up for our Brewpublic Anniversary event at Saraveza on October 9th and our KillerBeerFest at Bailey’s on October 10th, we couldn’t help but feel the vibe of the harvest season. Though we didn’t anticipate the event to be much of a fresh hop event since the Portland fresh hop festivities will be in full effect the same day at Oaks Park, we were happy to recently discover our event will feature some fantabulous wet hop brews exclusive to the weekend. For example, our friends from Barley Browns, owner Tyler Brown and head brewer Shawn Kelso of Baker City were kind enough to share a gem of a beer from their four-barrel brewery’s library. Making the five hour trek from their Eastern Oregon hotspot, these guys brought us a one-of-a-kind Wild Fresh Hopped American Strong Ale. They will also feature some of these unique highly sought after brews at Belmont Station in the near future. During their brief stay in Portland Brown and Kelso also dropped off eight beers to MacTarnahan’s/Pyramid to submit them in this year’s GABF. Expect some medals from these chaps.

Here’s some videos of the hop harvest from Annen Bro. hop farm in Mt Angel, Oregon:

Hops vines straight from the fields being set for processing

Fresh hops ripe for the picking

One Hop Festival (Hood River Hop Fest) down, and two to go. October 18 at Hopworks, 2944 SE Powell Blvd., and October 25 at Ninkasi, 272 Van Buren St. in Eugene.   Admission to the events is free; glasses/mugs cost $5, and are required for tasting beer.  Tastes of the individual beers are $1 each.  Hours are Noon to 9 p.m.

Thanks to Chris Crabb, here is the lineup of the freshest beers on tap that will be available at both events.  These two festivals will be the only place where hopheads can find all these beers in one location!

Brewer Ben Flerchinger gets hoppy at the Lucky Lab Mutt Hop picking.

The Lucky Labrador is the kind of place where beer lovers and friends alike congregate in a true public house atmosphere.  Boldly hoppy beers adorn the vast selection.  With three locations each with unique wide-open gathering halls, the Lab is perhaps the of friendliest down home pubs in Portland.  On September 17, 2008, a group of Lab Lovers along with staff joined in an annual ritual of picking hops for the autumn Mutt Hop Brew.  I showed up at the Hawthorne location about 1:45PM to find brewer Ben Flerchinger and about ten others picking away.  They had been picking several varietals of vine ripened hops since noon in the back beer garden.  With warm and muggy air, the crop was at its peek.   Hops growing out back of the Lab and from the NW Quimby location were being harvested right before my eyes.  The smell was wonderful, and the mood was that of community and friendship.  Not only were the hops from the Lucky Lab being used, but Lab Lovers were bringing in their own supplies in attempts to make 2008’s harvest the biggest yet. According to Flerchinger, 2007’s Mutt Hop event yielded 73 pounds of sticky lupulin-laden fruit.