I’m a big fan of the trend popping up at a variety of breweries for using locally grown, fresh hops to make a seasonal brew – which means September here in the Northwestern U.S. Frog Hop Fresh Hopped Pale Ale is Great Northern Brewing Company’s version. This one is the 2009 brew. Great Northern’s website makes it clear that this will be an annual brew that will vary from year to year depending upon available ingredients. Combining fresh hops, local agriculture and creative brewing is a trend we definitely need to support. Great Northern describes this as having “intense citrusy cascade hops and green grassy notes” which “dominate the flavor and aroma.” I’d have to disagree. This is a tasty beer, but fairly unremarkable. There is no significant hop aroma. Certainly, the hop flavor predominates (over the malt), but this beer doesn’t showcase the hops, which is what I’d like to see when featuring locally grown ingredients. Hop bitterness is fairly mild. The color is a little lighter straw/golden color than how it looks in the picture.

Name: Frog Hop Fresh Hopped Pale Ale
Brewery: Great Northern Brewing, Whitefish, MT.
Style: Pale Ale.
Color: light golden.
Packaging: 22 oz. bottle.
Stats: 5% abv, ? IBU.
Bought: The Good Food Store, Missoula.
Ruling: Two and a half out of Five Hops. Easy drinking, tasty beer, but hop should be better featured.