Hoptrip Day 4

Yakima Valley: Bale Breaker and Hopsteiner

After sampling a dizzying array of fresh hop IPAs in Portland, we hit the road. At the crack of dawn, we left Portland’s electric green behind for hop country in Yakima Valley. The region markets itself as “The Palm Springs of Washington” for its laid-back vibe, but for craft beer lovers like us, it’s the Hop Garden of Eden. The drive through the Columbia River Gorge is breathtaking, but Yakima is all agriculture and suburban sprawl. Palm Springs be damned—you visit Yakima for the beer. 

Our first stop was Hopsteiner, where we spent half a day sorting, sifting, and sniffing various hop varieties. For reasons both obvious and perhaps less so, we cannot reveal much about the hops we tested and ordered. This was the case at Crosby Hops earlier in the week and will be the case at Yakima Chiefs and Barth Haas as well. (We’re assuming the readers of our blog know that Hopsteiner, Yakima Chiefs, and Haas are the Big 3 in the hops. If you didn’t, now you do.)

After Hopsteiner, our senses needed a break, and in Yakima Valley, our go-to destination is the terrace at Bale Breaker Brewing. Bale Breaker is unique in the industry in that it is both a respected hop farm and an independent craft brewery. The family has been growing hops since 1932 and opened the brewery in 2013, on its way to becoming one of Washington’s most respected brands. This vertical integration of source and output has made Bale Breaker a pilgrimage site for IPA enthusiasts as well as a laboratory for new ideas and the exchange of information. Put simply, it is the place you want to be during the hop harvest, and the one brewery you’ll dream about most when you return home. 

We ate tacos on the terrace with Meghann and Kevin Quinn, and we asked them all about the state of the industry, hop farming, and the advantages they enjoy as a fourth-generation Yakima Valley farming family (Meghann is the farmer, Kevin the brewer). We’ll post our in-depth interview on this blog later. Of course, after the interview, we spent the rest of the day trying to taste every Bale Breaker beer on tap. 

In the end, we decided the best beer we tasted was their Green Rush Fresh Hop IPA, a fresh hop Indian Pale Ale brewed in collaboration with Russian River (using fresh Simcoe, Citra Cryo, and Krush hops). Why? It’s hard to beat the fresh hop experience combined with that signature bitterness that Russian River does so well. Special mention goes to Kia Ora Fresh Hop XPA (a collaboration with Mac Hops brewed with fresh Simcoe, Citra, Nectaron, Riwaka, and Nelson Sauvin Cryo). Also, in rare defiance of Yakima Valley’s fresh hop gods, we enjoyed Bale Breaker’s Dormancy Breakfast Stout with Simcoe and Ahtanum. 

While Portland is fun, the Yakima Valley calls for a step up. Over the next few days, Uiltje bringing our A-game. Tomorrow we face the Yakima Chiefs, and the day after that, BarthHaas.