Humboldt Hemp takes Avocadoville’s first Top of the Hops award

The consensus favorite beer of the “first” First Friday in Avocadoville was Humboldt Hemp, a ruby red ale with a toasted malt flavor.

Which begs the obvious question: Is there actually hemp in Hemp Ale?

Hemp seeds legally imported from Canada are indeed incorporated in the brewing process of Humboldt Hemp, according to Ryan Stevens at Firestone Walker Brewing Co., which purchased the Humboldt Brewing Co. in 2005.

Some European hemp beers – with more suggestive names like Greenleaf, Cannabia and Olde Bong Water Porter -- legally contain up to 0.3 mg of THC, the active chemical ingredient in marijuana. Humboldt Hemp, Stevens said, contains no levels of THC – despite the distinctive marijuana leaf (minus two leaves) on the label.

“It’s funny,” said Stevens, who was reached by phone at the Firestone taproom in Buellton. “I was just having this exact same conversation with a guy at the bar here.”

Microbrew Beer of the Month Club, which recently distributed Humboldt Hemp, claims the Humboldt Brewing Company currently holds the only approved license for brewing hemp beer in the U.S.

Founded in 1987, Humboldt Brewing Company’s Nectar Ales label brews about 10 beers including a pale which won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival and a summer seasonal brew that Corey and Nate’s Beer Labels calls “arguably the best Hefeweizen ever created.”

Still operated as a family-operated bottler in Paso Robles, Humboldt Brewing is run by Mario Celotto, a former University of Southern California linebacker and a member of the 1980 Oakland Raider’s Super Bowl championship team.

Beer writer Jay R. Brooks, of the Brookston Beer Bulletin, claims to have planted the seed in Celotto’s head in 1998 to brew a beer made with hemp, a close cousin of hops. A few months later, Humboldt Hemp Ale was born.

Hedonist Beer Jive said Humboldt Hemp “went down much more quickly than a beer its color typically does.”

The Yardhouse serves Humboldt Red, Pale, IPA and Hemp on draft.

So who’s going to bring Weed Ale (of “Try Legal Weed” infamy) to the next First Friday?

Humboldt Hemp: 7.5 out of 10

-- Church Key