Sassy Thora Is Sassy Pony After One Fresh Dry Hop

Gigantic took Sassy Pony, one of its regular pale ales, dry hopped it with fresh Thora from Crosby Hops, and gave the result a different name. Draft only, and a surprise addition to the fresh hop run.

Style: Fresh Hop Pale Ale
Release Date: 2026-09-04
ABV: N/A
Gigantic Brewing Company (Portland, OR)

The fifth beer in Gigantic Brewing Company's fresh hop run is not a new recipe. It is an existing one wearing a different name for a few weeks.

Sassy Thora is Sassy Pony, a fixture in the Portland brewery's lineup, dry hopped with fresh Thora hops from Crosby Hops. Gigantic announced it as a surprise addition to a schedule that already had four beers on it, released September 4 and available on draft only. The brewery describes the change as transforming the little pale ale into Sassy Thora, the Fresh Hop Explorer.

The technique is the reason it earns its own name. Most fresh hop beer is built on the hot side, with undried cones going into the whirlpool or a hop back where heat pulls character out fast and the spent material comes out with the rest of the trub. Dry hopping with fresh hops is the more awkward route. Undried cones carry a great deal of water and leaf, so a brewer needs considerably more of them by weight to get the same aromatic effect, and all of that green matter then sits in cold, finished beer, where extended contact can pull grassy character alongside the good stuff.

Done well, it puts fresh hop aroma into the beer without cooking any of it, which is the appeal. It is also a light enough change on paper to leave the base beer recognisable, which makes Sassy Thora a fairly direct way to taste what fresh hops do to something you already know.

Sassy Thora is pouring now at Gigantic, on draft only.

Editor’s Take

One dry hop charge and the beer needs a new name, a new job title and a place in the release calendar. Sassy Pony goes into the tank, fresh Thora goes in after it, and what comes out is Sassy Thora, the Fresh Hop Explorer, which is a promotion most beers never receive. I am charmed by the confidence of it. Breweries dry hop existing beers all the time and call the result the existing beer.

The method deserves the fuss, mind you. Almost all fresh hop beer is made hot, with the green cones in the whirlpool or a hop back where heat does the extraction quickly and the wet plant matter is somebody else's problem within the hour. Dry hopping with undried hops means leaving a great deal of wet green material sitting in cold, finished beer, hoping for aroma and not grass. That is the harder version of the trick, and it is the one being done to the little pale ale.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.