Gilgamesh Brewing Fresh Prince Fresh Hop IPA: Brewed in Salem, Oregon at a strength of 6.3% abv and 88 IBUs of hop love, Fresh Prince showcases a whole lot of fresh Centennial hops. This beer is rumored to make you involuntary start doing the Carlton dance at random times in random places, or at least in my case it gets certain songs stuck in my head forever.

Flavour: I got a lot of big bready malt up front with lemon citrus and hints of caramel in the middle. It quickly led into lemon leaves and a massively bitter pine resin finish that lingered on the aftertaste.

Overall Impression: It’s odd that the aroma didn’t translate very well into the beer, but what was left over was still very good. I head this was amazing on tap too, from a couple of people who attended a Fresh Hop Fest in Oregon.

Rating: I give it a very good rating of 7/10, the piney bitter finish was very intense and addictive.

Food Pairing: Given the massive bitterness, avoid spicy food unless you want to burn your mouth and instead pair with something like a caramelized onion salisbury steak.

Since it is near impossible to drink this beer and not sing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air opening song, I couldn’t resist writing my own version, telling the story about how I found this beer, previously appearing on Instagram and now here for all to enjoy.

Now, this is a story about how
My beer bottle got flip-turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
And I’ll tell you how I enjoyed a fresh hop beer named after the Prince of Bel-Air

In West Coast Beer Geek land this was born and raised
On the hops farm where it spent most of its days
Chilling out maxin’ relaxin’ all cool
All shooting up a vine outside you fool

When a couple of guys who were up to some good
Started making some beer in the neighborhood
Just one fresh batch and many beers were shared
And they said “hey let’s name this after the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”

I looked and I looked day after day
Then I packed my suitcase and went on my way
Down to the the coast of Oregon near a thicket
In a yurt near the beach thinking “This is where I love to kick it”

It ain’t first class camping, but that ain’t so bad
Drinking beer our of a @steelandoak glass
Is this what the people of Oregon are like
Hmmmmm this surely is alright
But wait I hear they’re hipsters and hippies, all that
Pretty sure I just saw a beer named after a cat

I don’t think so
I’ll see if when I’m there
If I can find a beer named after the Prince of Bel-Air
When the car stopped and I got out
There was a dude who’s my pop standing there just about
I ain’t even trying to be rested yet
But I got out my chair, sat down like lightning and I cheered.

Now off to the liquor store which was thankfully near
Which had a section of #fresh hops and yes dice near the mirror
If anything I could say this place was a scare
But then I saw it, it was the Fresh Hop Prince of Bel-Air
I pulled up to my home home about 7 or 8 days later
And I yelled to my bathroom “yo potty smell you later”
I stocked up my beer fridge
It was finally there
A lovely Fresh Hop beer named after the Prince of Bel -Air