October 3, 2009 - Yakima, Washington: A sunny and mild afternoon gradually gave way to clouds and cold temperatures as we waited for the evening opening of the Yakima Fresh Hop Festival. The festival is a fund raising event for the nonprofit  Allied Arts of Yakima Valley, and is held the first Saturday of October to celebrate the hop harvest which begins in late August. The Yakima Valley is the premiere hop growing region in the U.S. With its long, sunny and dry summer days and its fertile soil, it grows 77% of America's hops and supplies about 30% of the total global production. In downtown Yakima, with an increasingly strong wind blowing from the northwest, the very air smelled like hops!

Tickets to the festival cost $35 per person ($30 with advance purchase). The festival opens for general admission at 6:00 PM. "V.I.P.'s" who spring for a $600 table for a group of 10 can enter one hour earlier. As we joined the line of ticket holders around 5:30, very few of the V.I.P. tables were occupied, but several dozen people could be seen beyond the fence around the serving tent already enjoying the bounty of this year's hop harvest. As opening time neared, our line quickly grew longer, while a few more V.I.P.'s strolled over to their own separate entrance. Generally speaking, the V.I.P.'s appeared to be dressed more like people attending an evening charity arts gala, rather than an outdoor beer festival. The $600 fee entitles them to seats at a private table under a heated tent with gourmet hors d'oeuvres (and of course a choice of local wine instead of beer), while the humble beer fans, dressed in less fashionable combinations of goose down and Gore-Tex, fend for themselves out in the elements.

When we entered we were given three $2 beer coupons and a rather attractive pint glass. The exchange rate for the coupons was 1 per 4 ounce taste or 2 for a full 16 ounce pint serving. Thus encouraged to drink only full pints, we headed over to the serving tent to formulate our strategy for the evening. Most of the 16 breweries present had two beers on offer, and all but a few were made with fresh hops. Since there was no festival brochure or even a simple list of beer names, we were forced to make our way around every line in the tent in order to read the tap handles and get some idea of what was available. We chose 8 beers to try, starting with the fresh hop IPA's. Our full list is described in the following table.