The pride was clear in Rob Paylor’s voice and tone when he grabbed a pint glass and filled it about halfway with Drew Grannemann’s “Hey Amarillo!” Fresh Hop India Pale Ale.
“I’m gonna have one of Drew’s glorious beers while we (talk,)” Paylor said to The Daily World a little after 4 p.m., on Tuesday. Grannemann is HBC’s head brewer, social media person, delivery driver, and occasionally its bartender.
Paylor, co-owner of Hoquiam Brewing Company (HBC,) sat at the bar to discuss Grannemann’s “Hey Amarillo!” winning the “Best of the Fest” award on the second day of the Seattle Fresh Hop Beer Festival. The festival took place between Friday, Oct. 7, and Saturday, Oct. 8.
According to Grannemann, there were 60-70 different beers at the festival, and 20-25 competitors.
The win came in the first beer competition in which HBC has taken part during its five-year run. HBC was established in September 2017, according to Grannemann.
“We’re 1-for-1,” Paylor said.
The amateur description has it as a crisp, golden beer with a citrusy nose and a floral taste. The beer packs a punch as its alcohol-by-volume rating is 7.2 percent. But, it doesn’t taste strong. As beer drinkers know, that can make it a dangerous one, so drink slowly and enjoy.
But for the man who raised it from the “fresh picked” whole cone hops themselves, here’s his description, which is probably more accurate.
“I guess to go from the 30,000-foot level of it, it’s a little bit more traditional kind of New England IPA,” Grannemann said. “Which means it’s citrus-forward, doesn’t have an overly bitter, kind of hop presence to balance it out. So you should get some sweetness, some juiciness, definitely grapefruit, citrus, maybe even a little bit of tropical fruit, too, flavor-wise. Aroma, it’s a little bit floral, and it also has probably a lot of really kind of fresh, bright, citrus notes up front as well. It’s kind of a mid-body beer where it doesn’t sit too heavy on the mouth, but it’s not really crisp, and it kind of flies off the tongue like light beer can do.”
Grannemann said it was “tough” to compare it. He also described what makes “Hey Amarillo!” unique.
“This kind of specific style, fresh hop, is really huge in the Pacific Northwest, because we’re fortunate enough to have close proximity to so many amazing hop farms,” Grannemann said. “And just using these whole fresh hops provides a different kind of green, vegetal flavor (and) aroma, and just a different kind of brightness. And honestly just freshness for the beer, it’s tough to get using dried hop pellets like most other breweries do. And so, I want to say just in that, it’s unique to itself. There’s probably some similar fresh hop styles that breweries put out, but commercially, I can’t think of anything else that’s really like that.”
The reason HBC was able to get Grannemann out to Seattle was because they had some availability to do so. Grannemann sounded happy that they had that flexibility, because it gave them exposure in the Seattle market.
Anyone who’s spent time in Aberdeen and Hoquiam knows the traffic flow that goes through the inner Harbor. Paylor is one of them.
“There’s a ton of traffic that heads in and out of our coastal beaches and up to the rainforest,” Paylor said. “And if we can have them, we’d love to have them stop for lunch, have a beer on their way in or on their way out. We’re just two blocks off 101, so it’s a real easy right turn for them to come down here and have a pizza or cheeseburger with us, and enjoy one of our beers. It’s good to get our name out there.”
