Hi everyone, it's Jack Bishop.

It's the second week of our best of proof to travel edition, where we bring you episodes from our catalog that transport us to different places around the country and the world.

This week we travel to Colorado, where one beer brewery has cracked the code to make a truly fresh hop IPA.

It starts with flying across the Rocky Mountains.

It's a race against time in this episode from 2023, hosted by Kevin Pang.

Hey, Kevin. What's new in your world?

This is Cape Burnott, Beer Reporter Extraordinaire.

You might have seen her writing in publications across the country, including America's Test Kitchen.com,

and you've heard her on our episode about hangovers.

Well, Kate, earlier this fall, I kept seeing beers that said that they were made with, quote, fresh hops,

or calling themselves fresh hop IPAs.

Now, I don't really drink beer, but my friends who do, they were going nuts over these.

They said that these beers are pretty special.

They're quite rare.

Hops are harvested just once a year, usually in the late summer or early fall.

And then they're turned into dried pellets or oils that brewers can use year-round.

There's a good chance that if I bought an IPA from the grocery store right now,

it could have been brewed with hops that were harvested two years ago. And they still taste great, but fresh hops, man, those are something different. It's like using fresh basil

instead of the dried stuff in a jar. The hop cone is picked right off the plant and goes straight into the

beer. Sounds simple enough? Actually, it's anything but simple. It's a complicated dance between

farmers and brewers and Mother Nature, and the clock is ticking. Hops grow on binds, that's

bees and baby, I-N-E-S. Bines are similar to vines, but instead of tendrils,

...