Wednesday, September 22, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
HOPS: PNW9s crop
makes for popular
seasonal beers
WEEDS: Forest Service
will use herbicides to
treat invasive plants
Continued from page 1
Continued from page 1
season in late summer, early
fall. Think of it as an herb:
dried vs. fresh. You will still
get the herbal notes from
the dried herb, but when it9s
fresh, you can really taste the
difference.=
McVey is also assistant
brewmaster for the larger
7,000-barrels-per-year oper-
ation off Barclay Drive that
is unceremoniously called
the <production facility.=
The firm9s beers are distrib-
uted throughout the Pacific
Northwest and parts of
California.
Most of the United States9
hop production takes place in
the Pacific Northwest, given
its rich soil, rainfall, and mild
air. Driving along Highway
200 or Highway 126, hop
vines come into view. Hops
are fast growing, herbaceous
perennial vines that grow
from underground stems to
as much as 25 feet in one
season. They are a prime
ingredient in beer dating to
the ninth century.
What9s used for brewing
is the flower. There is a male
and female of the species
and only the female plants
are used in commercial pro-
duction. In addition to their
bitterness, hops, like grapes,
impart floral, fruity, or citrus
flavors and aromas.
Brewers are very picky
about their hops and with
good reason. Beer recipes
are highly guarded secrets
and hop content is critical to
the process. The hops we see
along the roadside in Sisters
should remain on the trails
and are encouraged to keep
dogs leashed during active
treatments.
Ribbongrass, reed
canarygrass, perennial
peavine, and yellow flag
iris are aggressive invasive
plants overtaking native
sedges, wildflowers, and
shrubs within the river9s
riparian habitats. These inva-
sive plants out-compete most
native species and present a
major challenge to protecting
unique native vegetation and
habitat of the Metolius River.
Restoring and protecting the
Metolius Wild and Scenic
River and its values includ-
ing fish, wildlife, water qual-
ity, ecology, scenery, and
cultural values is a priority
of the Deschutes National
Forest.
The two herbicides being
used were approved through
an environmental analysis
in 2005 and a supplemental
environmental analysis in
2012. Past treatments have
been highly successful, and
the population appears to
be reduced by about 75 per-
cent with each treatment,
according to the Forest
Service.
For more information
on the invasive weed proj-
ect, contact Sisters District
Botanist Elizabeth Johnson
at 541-549-7727.
PHOTO BY BILL BARTLETT
Hop vines are a common site across the Pacific Northwest, which produces much of the nation’s hops.
Country do not meet Three
Creeks9 requirements. They
prefer a selection of Saaz
hops from as far away as
New Zealand and the Czech
Republic, the latter being
origin for the renowned hops
going back 700 years.
When The Nugget visited,
McVey showed us hops from
the Yakima Valley. They
were not green, aromatic
flowers fresh from the vine.
All craft brewers use a pel-
letized form of hops (think
rabbit food). Growing, har-
vesting, drying, and pelletiz-
ing hops is a highly complex
procedure requiring acres of
production 4 another rea-
son Three Creeks cannot use
local hops.
What we see driving by
are micro in nature and prob-
ably for home brewing, more
of a hobby. The largest hop
farm in Sisters Country is
close neighbor Tumalo Hops,
owned by Gary and Susan
Wyatt. Ninety percent of the
output from their hop yards is
taken by Bridge 99 Brewing
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in Bend. The Wyatts grow six
varieties of hops including a
northwest craft brew favor-
ite, the Cascade.
It can take anywhere from
one to four pounds of hops
per barrel, McVey says, and
one of their brews takes 20.
Hops are the featured ingre-
dient in some dozen year-
round and seasonal offerings.
The hops have names that
are part of a sophisticated
branding scheme. In their
Crowdpleaser IPA for exam-
ple, Amarillo, Mosaic and
Simcoe hops get top billing
when promoting the brew.
Crowdpleaser was voted Best
of the Northwest Region in
the 2020 U.S. Beer Tasting
Championship.
Speaking of fresh hops,
their Conelick9r Fresh Hop
IPA won Gold Medal at
last year9s Great American
Beer Festival. That seasonal
batch took 300 pounds of
wet Centennial hops from
BC Farms in Woodburn,
Oregon. The hops went from
farm to kettle in four hours.
THIS WEEK’S
NUGGET INSERT!
16,900
B i us your trade-ins
Bring
t d i and
low-mileage consignments!
Sisters Car Connection
541-815-7397 192 W. Barclay Dr., Sisters
That9s fresh.
McVey, Head Brewer Jeff
Cornett, and owner Wade
Underwood have more than
an emotional disappointment
in having to cancel the Hop
Fest. McVey made quite a bit
of fresh hop beer, more than
can logically be consumed
at the brew pub. Nowhere in
Oregon are the many tradi-
tional autumn beer fests and
Oktoberfests taking place
in the current COVID-19
environment.
<This is the time of the
year, after a full-bore sum-
mer meeting peak demand,
we as an industry look for-
ward to kicking back a bit
with our fellow beer makers
sharing in the joy and dedi-
cation of our work,= McVey
said, with a tinge of sadness.
But he quickly recovered:
<There9s always next year.=
Let9s drink to that.
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