Fusion Hops (2016)

[Eight Ace]

So I decided to buy some of these as they were cheap and sounded rather intriguing. Am planning to to a single hop classic IPA with them at some point, but was wondering if anyone has any experience with them at all?

 

[jceg316]

I have a pack of these in my freezer. Did you end up using them at all?

 

[Eight Ace]

I'd completely forgotten about them until yesterday when seeing what I had in the freezer . Have somehow built a fair collection of hops to use up this year!

Think I'm going to knock up a trial with a basic recipe with fusion as a single hop and then take things from there. No idea when mind, but it is on the to do list over the next few months.

 

[jceg316]

Someone has asked me to make them a beer for their hen party, I have a load of unopened varieties I've not used before, including Fusion. I think I'll just chuck a bunch together to make some sort of IPA. I think I'll do fusion, pride of ringwood & liberty. They've all been sitting in my freezer for a while.

 

[Eight Ace]

Haven't even heard of Pride of Ringwood, sounds an interesting one though

 

[MartinHaworth]

According to Charles Faram, Fusion is a blend of some of their experimental hops, with different composition each year. I guess this has it's pluses and minuses.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Haven't even heard of Pride of Ringwood, sounds an interesting one though

At one point it was the dominant hop grown in Australia, in the same way that >90% of US hops were Cluster until the 1970s, mostly used for bittering macro lager. So it's the perfect hop for making a clone of Fosters, Coopers etc!

The name comes from its mother, Pride of Kent which was Ernest Salmon's early varieties at Wye. Pride of Kent is the daughter of Brewer's Gold so a niece of Bullion and first cousin of Bramling Cross.

 

[Lesinge]

I am doing the second of three Fusion hops beer tomorrow - I bought two packs as they were going cheap. The three brews are to look at what 250g of the following special malts bring to a brew- DRC, Melatonin and Aromatic malts. So I have made a basic brew of:

So they should be interesting to see what each malt brings and what Fusion are like.

 

[jceg316]

@Eight Ace or @Lesinge how did your Fusion beers come out? I still have my pack sitting in the freezer . It's been a few months since I've been able to brew but my next brew will be a Fusion IPA.

 

[Eight Ace]

Mines still sitting in the freezer too

I've only just got back into doing AG beers (for some reason went back last year to kits and just ended up disappointed), but fully intend to knock a Smash (or near as possible) up with these this year as an English IPA

 

[Lesinge]

I think Fusion brings a mild fruitiness but nothing massive - on those beers I did it was the malts that really stood out - if I did it again I might just use it in a Golden or IPA style beer to try and get to the hop profile. I am now going to try the Opus and learnt from the Fusion results so will be using a light profile.

 

[An Ankoù]

Someone has asked me to make them a beer for their hen party, I have a load of unopened varieties I've not used before, including Fusion. I think I'll just chuck a bunch together to make some sort of IPA. I think I'll do fusion, pride of ringwood & liberty. They've all been sitting in my freezer for a while.

I've been trying to get hold of PoR or Superpride for months. Where did you get yours from?

 

[Eight Ace]

Excellent, many thanks for the update. Think I'll go for an IPA by the sounds of it, maybe EKG to bitter before going in with the fusion towards the end and a dry hop.

Sorry, should have quoted Lesinge there but didn't pull across

 

[jceg316]

I've been trying to get hold of PoR or Superpride for months. Where did you get yours from?

A friend gave me the bag about 2 years ago . I think they were 2016 harvest, possibly older.

Just had a quick search, it seems no one is really selling them anymore. Is there a decent replacement for them?

 

[An Ankoù]

A friend gave me the bag about 2 years ago . I think they were 2016 harvest, possibly older.

Just had a quick search, it seems no one is really selling them anymore. Is there a decent replacement for them?

Thanks for looking. No they're a trad hop in Australia, but no one else seems to want to use them. They're not particularly delicate. I'll see if I can get an Oz supplier to post me some.

 

[Lesinge]

Excellent, many thanks for the update. Think I'll go for an IPA by the sounds of it, maybe EKG to bitter before going in with the fusion towards the end and a dry hop.

Sorry, should have quoted Lesinge there but didn't pull across

Sounds good. I will probably do the same with the Opus - Just pale ale and maybe light crystal or carapils - to get the feel of the hop. I would do a Smash but to be honest I am not looking for a new bittering hop so will put it in later additions.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I've been trying to get hold of PoR or Superpride for months. Where did you get yours from?

Suspect you'll probably have to get them from Oz although I think I've seen them in Farams 1kg deals.

A Bushel of Hops has some Pride of Kent bines, the mother of PoR, but have sold out for this year.