Besides being the time of year for pumpkin and Oktoberfest beers, it’s also that special time of year when fresh/wet hop beers are available. Check out what Town Hall has to say about theirs and then make plans to take in a pint.

Well, the hop harvest has happened and that means time for our Fresh Hop 100. Monday 10/8 Fresh Hop week will begin at Town Hall Brewery

We will release our Fresh Hop 100 at 5pm. This year we were able to have freshly picked Simcoe hops overnighted to the brewery, and I think it turned out well. As we have done for the 7th year, Fresh Hop 100 is brewed with 100% whole wet hops- no hop pellets or hop extracts. This is pure from the farm to the glass. We will have growlers available monday beginning at 5pm. We will feature a pint intro price from 5-6pm, but do not expect the normal $2.50 as this beer is very expensive for us to produce. We again used 180lbs of fresh, wet hops for our batch-that is 18lbs per barrel.

As usual we will feature other Fresh/Wet Hop beers all next week and this year they have all been brewed in MN! Get your sample platter of Fresh/Wet Hop beer while they last.

Starting Moday we will serve-

Town Hall fresh Hop 100, Lift Bridge Harvestor, Brau Brothers 100 Yard Dash, Surly Wet, Indeed Fresh Hop, and Lucid Wammo

We will serve ours and 4 other ones at a time for a total of 5 choices, the remainder will back up the first one to empty, I hope to have 5 choices for you all week.

So we sent some samples over to our friends at Summit Brewery the other day and they were kind enough to run the beer through their lab, so we have IBU numbers for this year. Town Hall Fresh Hop 100 2012 came in at 77.9 BU and the alcohol was measured at 6.66% abv. Hope that other brewery across town is not upset we got the “Mark of the Beast” this year………

See you next week! While you are in I may suggest you try the drink of the month. It is a Pumpkin Pie Martini….and it is good. We had folks hand grinding spices for days to make you this treat. Usually you don’t see me pimping drinks (I kinda like beer)….this is worth a try.

Mike

Every week brings a different cask tapping at Barley John’s and this week for your drinking pleasure it’s Wet Hop Pale Ale that has been ‘dry hopped’ with a half a pound of their estate cascade hops, fresh off the vine. They’ll also have the pre-‘dry hopped’ version, one of their current seasonal beers.

Wet Hop Pale Ale [5.5%]
Wet hop ales are some of the freshest beers of the year. Most hops are generally dried, shredded and pelletized before they are used in beer. Once a year, during harvest, fresh hops are harvested, over-nighted to breweries all over the US, and thrown fresh (and wet) into the brew kettle or brite tank. A couple of weeks back we received 10lbs of fresh Amarillo and 10lbs of fresh Centennial hops. They were brewed into a gentle, slightly sweet pale ale designed to act as a bright canvass to highlight the hops’ character. The wet hops lend the beer a special resiny taste with a refreshing bitterness, floral notes, and plenty of spice with just a hint of bubblegum, and a long hoppy finish. It is truly fall!

If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty for a good cause (beer is always a good cause) then head over to Barley John’s and help them harvest their hops.

Every year at about this time, the hops we have growing on our patio need to be picked so we can put them to good use.

Monday the 1st, as we welcome our Oktoberfest, we will be picking our hops. Anyone interested is welcome to join us, and for your help, we’ll pour you some free beer as you work.

Stop by any time after 3pm and join in. Our brewer will be on the patio most of the day, picking our Cascade and East Kent Goldings stock hops.

The harvest is destined to dry hop our Winter Ale, which we will be cellaring away until the snow flies. It will be a little taste of summer’s bounty in the throws of winter’s worst.

Oktoberfest beers are in abundance these days and in a few short days you’ll be able to try Barley John’s version.

Our traditionally brewed Oktoberfest Bier is slated for release on Monday the 1st of October.

We are the only brewery in the state of Minnesota that has a German brewing system. That means that our German lagers are brewed like they are in Germany, and we are the only brewery in the state that can do it.

Our Oktoberfest has been lagering for months in our cellar, waiting for the chill of autumn, and the Stein (or Maß)
of our thirsty customers.

While you’re here, enjoy some German food specials!

Oktoberfest Food
Every year our kitchen whips up some amazing German-styled specials for Oktoberfest. Look for Roulanden (a roulade, or pinwheel, of beef stuffed with bacon, onions, pickles and mustard), Grandma’s Baby Back Ribs braised in Sauerkraut, and other specials to celebrate the season.