On the heels of the US hop harvest, Great Divide is releasing its unique “wet hopped” beer, Fresh Hop Pale Ale. Fresh Hop is an American-style ale brewed with freshly picked hops instead of the dried and pelletized hops brewers typically use. It will be released on October 1.

“Wet hops are expensive and difficult to brew with,” says Great Divide founder Brian Dunn, “and Fresh Hop is a very labor intensive beer for us to make. A brew takes several extra hours and 3 times the normal staff.” But Dunn says the extra effort is well worth the trouble. “It’s a really unique opportunity for us to brew with seasonal ingredients, something we don’t get to do very often. And fresh hops give a distinctly fresh, almost grassy hop character to the beer.”

Fresh Hop is an American-style pale ale with moderate hop bitterness, highlighted by a unique and intensely floral and citrusy hop character. Fresh Hop is a superbly refreshing, medium bodied, light-copper colored pale ale weighing in at 55 International Bittering Units (IBUs) and 6.1% alcohol by volume.

Dunn and his crew first brewed Fresh Hop four years ago, making it the first large-scale beer of its kind to be brewed in Colorado. The fall seasonal beer has won outstanding reviews from America’s food & beer press and consumer reviewers.

Brewing with fresh hops requires four to five times the hop volume of pelletized hops. The very perishable, just-harvested hop cones are shipped overnight to Great Divide shortly after harvest. The morning of the scheduled hop delivery, Great Divide’s brewers begin brewing Fresh Hop Pale Ale, and have the brewing beer ready for its hop additions as the fresh hops arrive at the brewery.

Dunn says his staff gets extra pleasure from the process. “When those boxes of freshly harvested hops arrive,” he says, “we open them up and everyone in the brewery crushes them between their hands and takes a huge whiff. It’s really incredible to smell that fresh hop aroma.”

Great Divide brewed just 200 barrels (a barrel equals 31 US gallons) of Fresh Hop. The beer is available in limited quantities of draft and 22 ounce bottles.