It’s an exciting time of year in the Northwest. We’re now knee deep in hop harvest season, which typically runs from August through late September, depending on the hop variety and the local climate of the hop field. It’s also prime time for making “fresh” or “wet” hop beers, which are [...]
Bale Breaker Brewing just announced plans to collaborate with four different breweries this hop harvest season. “Brewers from across the country are planning trips to the hop fields of Yakima Valley for our upcoming harvest,” says Jessica Hawkins, Bale Breaker’s marketing manager. "It's the perfect time to brew with some of [...]
By far, the India Pale Ale is the most popular style of craft beer, and I don’t see its status changing anytime soon. Every so often, another critic claims this hop-craze “trend” will fade, and that it will be replaced by the rising popularity of light lagers or the surge of saisons, [...]
The fourth annual Washington Hop Mob Triple IPA Roadshow kicks off tomorrow, Feb. 2, at Brouwer’s Café in Seattle, where you will find a whopping 32 Hop Mob beers on tap. Through Feb. 12, other Hop Mob events will follow in 8 western Washington cities, from Bellingham to Vancouver. This year, [...]
Hello again all craft drinkers and advocates. We've got a fun one today that I was pleasantly surprised to see and find. We did a collaboration beer last week of Evil Twin & Westbrook's Imperial Mexican Biscotti Cake Break, which was quite good. Today we journey to the other side of [...]
Intro from the Editor Tap Trail is proud to have been apart of Bellingham's best year of beer. And not just "more" beer. 2016 was the year Bellingham became the Beer Town it had always wanted to be. Collaborations, awards and events rounded out a town that evolved to be [...]
According to a report released last week by Hop Growers of America (HGA), an organization that promotes American-grown hops, U.S. hop acreage increased a whopping 18.5% this year. Total acreage now stands at 53,213, which is an all-time high and 8,303 more acres than 2015. With the number of craft breweries surging in [...]
Welcome back craft beer fans, hop heads, barley wine braggadocios, and lager lovers. We've got a new entry from our friends at Reuben's tonight. Recent winners of Washington's Best Places for Beer > Brewer's Tap Room according to RateBeer. I've long been a fan of their beers, Crikey is a solid NW IPA, their [...]
India pale ales made with fruit are certainly nothing new. But in recent years, these beers have surged in popularity, and a rapidly rising number of breweries are now making one form of fruit IPA or another. As odd as it may seem to some, fruit flavors actually marry really well [...]
In a recent release, Hop Growers of America (HGA) deemed the 2015 hop crop “good” overall. Despite climatic challenges, this year’s harvest exceeded 2014’s by 11%, and most hop contracts are expected to be fulfilled by U.S. growers and merchants. (Some reported numbers vary slightly because some reports reflect acreage and [...]
Some “beer purists” might eschew the use of spices in beer brewing, but spices have been used much longer than hops. By many accounts, beer was first made more than 9,000 years ago, but using hops in beer has only been traced back about 1,000 years. Before hopped beer, gruit beer (also grut [...]
One of my favorite seasonals of the year is beginning to show up on taps and in bottles, and I couldn’t be happier. Fresh hop beers, also known as wet hop beers, are brewed with freshly picked hops during the height of the annual hop harvest, which typically lasts from late [...]
You don't have to leave Bellingham to get your IPA fix on this fine holiday (National IPA Day). We have 8 amazing local IPA's right in our own backyard. So,.. what is an IPA? Kulshan Brewery summarized it nicely. "India Pale Ale was originally an English style of beer, popularized in [...]
Welcome back hop heads and beer lovers! This week we have a true hop bomb thanks to Stone. This series of beers, affectionately referred to as "Enjoy By" has been Stone's mission to get the freshest, most hoppy beer, into the hands of the consumer as quickly as possible. Simply put, this is [...]
As we know, craft beer is exploding. That growth is expected to continue and those 3,200 breweries in the US are using a ton of hops. Hops are the most popular ingredient in craft beer. IPAs accounted for 25% of craft beer growth in 2014. We love our IBUs. Popular Science, there [...]
Hop Theory is a company that is raising funds on Kickstarter to make tea bags. Tea bags, filled with hops that you can steep in your beer. Think of it like extreme dry hopping. The bags are made with cascade hops, coriander and orange peels. It seems like a nice combination [...]
A couple years back, while attending Sierra Nevada Beer Camp, I got a VIP tour of the brewery’s hop storage rooms, which are kept just above freezing. The crisp air was pungently spicy, minty and piney, making for an incredible olfactory experience. As we toured around, I was drawn to a [...]
Image via Bellingham Home Brewers Guild According to the beer writer below, hops are ruining beer. In a region that is run by hops, this whole debate holds some interest for me. Yakima, WA produces about 75% of the nation's hops. SEVENTY PERCENT! "Hop Bomb", "Hop Head", "Palate Wrecker" are all [...]
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