Oregon Beer Awards 2024 Fresh Hop Competition Medal Winners
Judging for the 9th annual Oregon Beer Awards Fresh Hop competition was held on Saturday, October 5th, with 15 judges selecting nine medal winning beers from three categories. There were 137 beers from 47 Oregon breweries entered into this year’s competition, making it the largest and most competitive fresh hop competition in the world and a record for the Oregon Beer Awards. For comparison, at the largest overall beer competition in the U.S., there were just 82 entries into the fresh or wet hop category at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival.
Oregon Beer Awards judging is done through a double-blind process, with each beer judged in triplicate. In other words, each flight of beers will be evaluated by three separate sets of judges. Each team will independently select 3 beers to advance. Beers advanced by all tables automatically move on to a semifinal or medal round. Beers selected to advance by 2 of 3 tables also move on to a semifinal round or medal round, depending on the size of the category. Beers eliminated by 2 or more of the tables are out of the competition. The goal of this system is to maximize review of each entry to best guarantee that beers advancing to medal flights are the most universally lauded entries in each category.
The 2024 OBA Fresh Hop competition was a year of firsts. Only three of the 9 winning breweries (Baerlic Brewing, Storm breaker Brewing, and Von Ebert Brewing) have won medals in this competition before. Von Ebert is the only brewery that won a medal at both the 2024 and 2023 fresh hop competition, but for a different beer. And Baerlic Brewing and Stormbreaker Brewing now have won 5 and 4 medals in the the OBA competition since its inception in 2016.
Fresh Hop Pale Ales and India Pale Ales (62 entries)
This category is for all hop-forward, West Coast styles of beer made with fresh hops. For the purpose of this competition, fresh hops are defined as newly harvested hops that have not been conventionally baled or stored. While the overall flavor of the beer will vary with the base style, fresh/green/wet hop flavor and aroma should be forward.
🥇GOLD - Living Haus Beer. Co collaboration with Ghost Town Brewing: Dino
🥈SILVER - Baerlic Beer Company: Fresh Hop Splishy IPA
🥉BRONZE - Bend Brewing Co.: FH Mosaic Mega Pint
Fresh Hop Hazy Pale Ales and India Pale Ales (33 entries)
This category is for all variations of hazy/juicy IPA and hazy/juicy pale ale made with fresh hops. Beers in this category are typically hazy to very hazy in appearance; however, judges should accept a range of haze from very low to very high. For the purpose of this competition, fresh hops are defined as newly harvested hops that have not been conventionally baled or stored. While the overall flavor of the beer will vary with the base style, fresh/green/wet hop flavor and aroma should be forward.
🥇GOLD - Von Ebert Brewing: Fresh Hop Sector 7
🥈SILVER - Fort George Brewery: Fresh Hop Fields of Green
🥉BRONZE - StormBreaker Brewing: Set Freshies To Haze
Other Fresh Hop Beers (42 entries)
This category is for fresh hop versions of any style not covered in the hazy or west Coast fresh hop categories. Common entries from previous competitions that would be at home in this category include fresh hop lagers, saisons, sour/mixed culture beers, Amber ales, summer ales, wheat beers and English bitters/pale ales, but this list is not exhaustive. The purpose of this category is to honor innovative uses of fresh hops in styles that are less aggressive in their hop character than those in the previous two fresh hop categories.
🥇GOLD - Binary Brewing: Cones of Lorien
🥈SILVER - Hetty Alice: Fresh Hopped Italian Pils
🥉BRONZE - Oak Union Brewing: Fresh Hop Green Idol
2024 OBA Fresh Hop medals will be handed out next year at the Oregon Beer Awards ceremony at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon on Thursday April 4th, 2025.