"The problem
with the world
is that
everyone is a
few beers
behind."
BeerNexus presents
The Beer Reporter Sounds Off On Beer !
      Bale Breaker
Chris Marchio - sounds off on beer!
Last month, I explored some of the established Yakima Valley craft
breweries, which all have a lot to offer.  This time around, I had the great
pleasure of touring one of the newest & oldest members of the Yakima
Valley craft beer scene, Bale Breaker Brewing Company.  I say new and
old because the brewery is being built (as we speak) from scratch on an
industrial hop farm that was already well established.

Before I delve into the beer itself, it would behoove me to start with a bit
of history.  Kevin Smith and Meghann Smith Quinn’s great grandparents
first planted Cluster hops on these dry fields in the Yakima Valley in
1932, known as Loftus Ranches.  Since then, they have grown into one
of the largest hop growing family’s in the country.  Loftus grows a wide
variety of strains and are known to have typically higher amounts of
resins than competitors.  They work closely with Yakima hop processors,
Hop Union, to ensure craft and home brewers across the country are
using the best possible hops to make the best possible beer.  After all
this time being surrounded by the spice and life of beer, it makes sense
to take this opportunity and add a craft brewery on the “to do” list. This
might seem like a logical conclusion, but there will be no other craft
brewery on an industrial hop farm in North America.  Compare this to the
wine industry where the majority of vineyards grow grapes for their own
products, making for a unique experience in touring these wineries.  
This same sort of experience can now be had within the craft beer world.

Due to the time sensitive nature of the hop harvest, I was about a month
late for the real action when I visited their 10 gallon nano-brewery, but
Kevin and Kevin were more than happy to show me how the hops went
from vine to beer and all the steps in between.  With a broad brush
stroke, the hops are cut from trellises after reaching roughly 12 – 15
feet with a tractor called a “topcutter” (their IPA is named in honor of this
machine, “Topcutter IPA”) to harvest the entire vine with efficiency and
being careful not to damage the flowers.  

The hops are then taken to a warehouse where the cones are stripped
from the vines and then the leaves and stems are removed as much as
possible.  Once the sticky cones have been isolated, they work their way
to the kiln for drying.  This is especially important for storage purposes
because if there is too much moisture content in the hops (12- 15%)
they can spontaneously combust in their bales before processing.  The
ideal moisture content is roughly 8 – 10%, depending on the variety.  
Once they have been properly dried in the kiln, they are transferred into
bales (hence the name),and then are taken to the processing facility to
be turned into pellets, oil extracts, or left as whole cones for use in craft
breweries and for home brewers.  

Once we finished the tour of the facilities, we made our way back to the
tasting room to try the fruits of their labor.  They had four beers on tap,
including the Topcutter IPA, Field 41 Pale Ale, a Fresh Hop Imperial IPA,
made with fresh, “wet” hops, and a seasonal Pumpkin Ale, which they
said was made for their mom…. she must be proud!

The Topcutter IPA is an extremely well balanced, hazy orange, unfiltered
IPA that doesn’t have the lupulin bitterness that tends to dominate most
IPA’s.  It drinks super smooth and has a bright, floral, citrus aroma that
converts well to taste. Even though the bitterness is not too intense, it
still has 70 IBU’s to satisfy the purist.  I feel this is more attributed to how
the hops were used because anyone can throw a bunch of hops into a
kettle and get something out of it, the key here is balance.  Saying this
beer is balanced would be an understatement.

The Field 41Pale Ale, named after the hop field where their new brewing
facility will be located, is more a session beer designed to introduce the
common beer drinker to the world of hops.  It is “generously dry hopped”
as it says on the label, but not overpowering.  Even though this could be
used to transform lager drinkers into downright hop heads, self declared
hop heads (such as myself) would  not let be down as this beer has a lot
offer.  It drinks extremely smooth and has a complex nose that is bigger
than it looks on paper, with pleasant green apple and citrus aroma.  It is
more toned down than their IPA to appeal to a broader audience.

The Fresh Hop Imperial IPA was good, but is a tricky beer to handle to
say the least.  Coming from the east coast, I was unfamiliar with Fresh
Hopped beers.  This style is a hop heads dream.   The ratio between
fresh and dried hops is typically 5 – 1, due to the water weight in fresh
hop cones.  Also, the resins and essential oils in fresh hops are more
pronounced and susceptible to heat, which causes most brewers to
bitter with pellets and only use fresh hops for first wort and flavor
additions,  however, this is not written in stone.  Bale Breaker uses only
fresh hops picked straight from the vine throughout the entire process
as if they were dried, only 5 times more!  

The only issue is that the beer is especially time sensitive and enjoyed
best very fresh, like the first day after conditioning fresh.  This one had
been aging for a few days and was certainly not as crisp as I’m sure it
once was, but still very enjoyable.  A few weeks prior to my visit, they
had placed 3rd at the 10th annual Fresh Hop Festival, an entire festival
dedicated to this style of beer and the area that makes it all possible.

Because Bale Breaker is currently brewing on a 10 gallon system, it took
them six weeks to be able to brew enough beer to supply the festival.  
With the buzz of a new brewery in town, it was kicked within a few hours,
leaving many festival goers in the dark and wanting more.  I was lucky
enough to try this particular batch of fresh, fresh hopped beer before it
ran out and my palate will never be the same, thankfully.

Last but not least was the Pumpkin Ale.  This was not intended for
commercial production like the other more hop forward styles, but was a
gift to the first lady of the house, mom, who really wanted a seasonal
pumpkin beer.  Like one could expect of these guys, there were still
plenty of hops, yet, no one flavor overwhelmed the other.  There were
spicy, clove, and cinnamon notes with a underlying theme of pumpkin.  It
was darker than the others, which most likely served as an experiment
on the malt bill.  It was not their favorite, repeating a few times how “our
mom really wanted a pumpkin beer…” but I enjoyed it none the less, and
I’m sure their mom did too!

So… keep your eye out within the next year or so to see if you can get
some Bale Breaker Brewing beer at all cost.  Talk to your local craft beer
store, hassle, beg, whatever you got to do, you will know that you are
drinking some of the most unique beer around and can trust where the
hops came from. If you are in the Yakima area before they launch the
full scale commercial line, they are doing “brewers nights” with a few
kegs of their IPA and Pale Ale available until they run out.  This is
happening at a few different bars in downtown Yakima so contact them
through their website to find out where they will be and they’ll be happy
to help you out. You will not be let down, guaranteed.   

Remember, drink globally and hop locally. Cheers!

www.balebreaker.com ~ Yakima, WA



Cheers.       


Chris  
"The Beer Reporter"
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Owners  Kevin Quinn, Meghann
(Smith) Quinn, Kevin Smith