Big Ed's 2020

When the first batch of Big Ed's Hop Yard Ale was brewed in 2016 it marked the first time in more than 130 years that an Oshkosh brewery made beer from locally grown hops. This year's version is black and outstanding. The unprocessed, freshly picked hops shine through. It's pouring now at Fox River. And for the first time, Big Ed's will also be available in bottles.

The hops for this year's batch of Big Ed's were picked on September 11 at Steve Sobojinski's hop yard in the Town of Nekimi. They netted 50 pounds of hops. The beer was brewed later that day at Fox River's Oshkosh brewery using the raw hops. This was the only fresh-hop beer made this year by an Oshkosh brewery.

The September 11 hop harvest.

Here's Fox River brewmaster Drew Roth with his take on the beer: "This year's batch is a Cascadian Dark ale that utilized cold steeped roast malt and midnight wheat giving the base beer a smooth, lightly chocolaty note that the green characters of the wet hops layer over nicely. Overall I think this is the best version of Big Ed's we have done so far."

Here's a look under the hood.

Malt Bill
2row (base malt)

Briess Roast Malt - Midnight Wheat

Victory Carapils

Bittering Hops
Magnum

Late addition fresh hops from Town of Nekimi harvest
Columbus - Cascade - Sterling
Centennial - Cluster

13.4° P Original Gravity
2.6° P Terminal Gravity
27.5° Lovibond
5.9 ABV
7.5 IBUs before wet hops

More on the Big Ed's back story can be found HERE, HERE, and HERE.