Hoppy and Fresh

There are two beers being released by Oshkosh breweries this week that signify new things happening here.

Hoppy Otter at Fox River River
Hoppy Otter will go on tap this afternoon (Thursday, September 19) at Fox River in Oshkosh. This is the first Fox River beer formulated by its new brewmaster, Andrew Roth. His homebrewing roots are on display as he takes what would otherwise be a standard amber lager and shapes it into something all its own. Roth says this is a beer with a "bit of an identity crisis." He starts with a base of English malts and then brings in a heavy dose of late-addition Mosaic hops that blend tropical-fruit flavors into that malty background. With Roth running the brewhouse, I suspect we'll be seeing quite a bit more of this style-bending approach coming from Fox River in the future. Hoppy Otter is 5% ABV.

Farm Fresh at Bare Bones
Friday, September 20, Bare Bones releases its third wet hop ale in as many years. Wet hop beers use fresh, unprocessed hops that are not dried prior to brewing. This year's batch of Farm Fresh is going to be different. For the first time, Bare Bones has partnered with a Winnebago County hop grower. The hops are from Hidden Valley Hops Farm operated by Justin Gloede in the Town of Winchester. This is the first commercial beer to have been made using Gloede's hops. “I'm pretty excited about that,” Gloede says. Farm Fresh uses organic cascades that were picked just a couple of hours before they went into the Bare Bones kettle. It was a small-batch brew, so it won't be around long. This is local beer in the most elemental sense.

Freshly picked hops at Hidden Valley Hops Farm.