Portland, Oregon based Breakside Brewery is planning to release 9 fresh hop beers in 2023, with 5 of them being returning favorites and 4 brand new flavors. The brewery founded in 2010 has a strong reputation for hoppy beers and fresh hop beers, consistently winning medals for both clean and fresh hop beers alike year after year.

The best way to use fresh, undried, and unprocessed hop cones straight from the bines has been a neverending and evolving discussion with ongoing disagreements between brewers. Breakside Brewery made their own influential mark on the evolution of fresh hop beer making when they pioneered the technique of freezing the hops before shattering them way back in 2014. Wearing goggles, masks, and other protective gear, the brewers fill 55 gallon drums of just picked hops straight from the farm, then spray them with liquid nitrogen causing them to almost instantaneously frost and crystalize. Then they use a soil tamper to shatter them like Robert Patrick at the end of Terminator 2.

Crushed frozen hops are then bagged up and given time to thaw out, softening up and unlocking the precious lupulin oils that now have a better chance of being released into the beers. The fresh hop bags are then added to an empty bright beer tank, and the already fermented beer is transferred from a primary conical fermenter onto a secondary tank where the alcohol begins to soak up and extract the green, grassy, piney and almost ethereally magic flavors and aromas that can only be found at this precise moment of harvest.

2023 Breakside Fresh Hop Release Schedule:

Fresh Hop Wanderjack IPA

(tentative release on August 24th)
A fresh hop version of Breakside’s 10th anniversary collaboration with Barley Brown’s Brewing. This popular limited release is a bridge between new school and classic hop flavors. The fresh hop version taps Strata hops from Goschie Farms. 16oz cans + draft.

Fresh Rainbows, Fresh Unicorns

(tentative release on August 28th)
Breakside’s year-round session IPA gets the fresh hop treatment with newly developed Luminosa hops from Coleman Farms. Luminosa Hops were bred by Portland-based Indie Hops, and said to have punchy peach-mango lemonade, candied orange peel, boysenberry, papaya and guava notes that make you feel like sipping cocktails in the tropics. 16oz cans + draft.

Fresh Hop Pils

(tentative release September 1st)
The fresh hop version of Breakside’s year-round pilsner, this one with fresh Sterling hops from Goschie Farms. Sterling hops are an American open pollinated version of classic German variety Saaz bred with Oregon Cascade. This creates an aroma abundant hop with a combo of spicy Saaz characteristics with northwest citrus. Draft only.

Fresh Hop White

(tentative release August 31st)
Earlier this year Breakside released a Belgian-style Witbier as a new year-round beer on draft and in cans. Inspired by the European classic style and east coast interpretations, the hallmarks are a soft white wheat flavor and mouthfeel and sweet/bitter orange and peppery coriander. The fresh hop version will feature Meridian hops from Coleman Farms. Meridian is a somewhat more subtle hop best used as a finishing touch, when properly used they add notes of meyer lemon, boysenberry, spearmint, sassafras, sweet-tart, pineapple. Draft only.

Fresh Hop Breakside IPA

(tentative release September 12th)
The classic long-running flagship IPA from Breakside is also a GABF gold medal winning beer. For the fresh hop version they use tried-and-true northwest native Chinook hops with a pine-like, spicy bouquet of robust flavors, and are known for high Geraniol content which is prized for it’s ability to bring out more fruit aroma compounds. 16oz cans + draft.

Fresh Hop Wanderlust IPA

(tentative release September 15th)
Breakside’s other year-round IPA, Wanderlust is arguably the top fan favorite for dank/savory and fruity hop fans striking a balance between the best of the northwest flavors. The fresh hop variety is possibly the most prevalent hop today in modern IPA’s, Mosaic is known for versatility, capable of contributing bitterness and flavor and aroma as well as onion/garlic funk and fruity berry character that can appear as a blueberry note. 16oz cans + draft.

Fresh Hop Double Wanderlust

(tentative release September 14th)
This special Imperial version of Wanderlust IPA will sure to have beer nerds talking in 2023. The already hugely popular IPA may now also have double the fans in a stronger version with more hops and more alcohol. Also making Double Wanderlust stand out from it’s smaller sibling, this one uses a different fresh hop: Crystal is an old school variety that fell out of favor because of it’s low alpha acid count, but they have more recently went through a reappraisal by modern brewers. Crystal hops have a great aroma of woodsy, green, floral and fruity with herb and spice notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper. 16oz cans + draft.

Fresh Logic - collab with Bottle Logic Brewing

(tentatively releasing September 17th)
This Hazy Double IPA is a brand new beer brewed with Anaheim, California’s much hyped and sought after Bottle Logic Brewing. Though we don’t have a description, we know Fresh Logic is packed with the extremely popular Citra hop variety from Coleman Agriculture in fresh hop form. Expect big tropical fruit juice notes. Draft only.

What Fresh Beast

(tentative release September 28th)
Breakside’s year-round hazy NE-style IPA gets the fresh hop treatment. The base beer ‘What Fresh Beast’ is known to be a semi-light and approachable version of hazy IPA juiciness. This fresh hop version is infused with popular but divisive Talus hops from Sodbuster Farms. Talus is a cross-breed daughter of Neomexicanus hop Sabro, known for a very unique combo of creamy coconut and wood flavors, combined with pink grapefruit and stone fruit, with a spicing of potpourri in the mix as well. Draft only.

The Portland Fresh Hop Pop-Up Beer Fest will feature nearly the entire lineup of Breakside’s 2023 fresh hop releases on Breakside Night on 9/18, which is part of the 17-day long fresh hop event running 9/15 - 10/1.

The 5 different packaged Breakside Fresh Hop beers will be released in color coded cans as per usual, which beers in each package are marked on the bottom of the can with a date coder. The tentative coloring will be as follows:

Purple - Wanderjack

Blue - Rainbows 

Green - IPA

Yellow  - Double Wanderlust 

Red  - Wanderlust