Growler Guys embraces the spirit of the season with Fresh-tival

While most of the beer-loving world is celebrating the tradition of Oktoberfest, it’s not so simple here in the Northwest where a new tradition is emerging: fresh hop beers and fresh hop festivals.

Growler Guys, located on Lake City Way in Seattle, is no stranger to both traditions. According to Kelly Dole, the beer manager at Growler Guys’ Seattle location, “It’s challenging, but fun, to balance Oktoberfest biers with PNW Fresh Hop beers.”

That said, the Seattle Growler Guys is fully embracing the fresh hop phenomenon. Currently, they have five fresh hop beers on tap, with plans to tap between one and three more per day for the next two weeks. This Sunday, September 16th they’ll officially kick off their Fresh Hops Fresh-tival, which runs through the 29th.

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“Our official Fresh-tival Kick-Off Party is Sunday, September 16th, but sticking with our ‘more-fresh-is-more-better’ motto, we’re tapping each keg within 6-18 hours of receipt. We’ll get over 30 kegs from 25 breweries, maybe more.”

“In 2017 we tapped about 39 different kegs at once,” says Kelly, adding that he’s not sure if any other bar had ever tapped that many fresh hop beers at once. “This year there is one aspect about which I’m a little proud: we’re committed to tapping every fresh hop keg while it’s fresh. I figured since the brewers work so hard making fresh hop beer for us hopheads, it made sense for our Fresh-tival to embrace the chaos and tap every keg as soon as possible — while it’s fresh!”

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