We are excited to present Alora hops. This variety comes from Hopsteiner, released in 2023. Its former, non-commercial name is HS17701. When our local homebrew shop in Danvers, Massachusetts let me know they had it in stock, I ordered a packet right away. Here’s our video about Alora hops!

Our Method

In our SMaSH beer experiments, we brew a one gallon batches with 2-Row pale malt, spring water, US-05 yeast and one packet of hops to understand the characteristics of the hops. This variety has some unique oil composition. According to Hopsteiner, a large percentage of its total oil content is made up of Selinene. This composition is rare for hops so we really want to know what these hops can do.

Our Alora Hops Notes

So, we always look at the marketing descriptors and try to see if we detect the same aspects in our beers. What we read online boasted that Alora hops brings aromas and flavors of peach, apricot, sweet melon and yuzu fruit.

Well, we’ll see about that. Here are our notes:

Aroma: mildly tantalizing, almost like vanilla and cream, a bit of dull fruit floral but not super strong, no citrus
Flavor: a bit of citrus, melon, green melon, fairly muted flavors – not very bright.
Overall Impression: Because the flavors and aromas were not very intense, we feel this hop would be better suited to supplement other hops like Sabro. It may be worth using a large quantity late in the boil to really get those unique flavors to come through. It feels like this variety is quite delicate.

Get out there and get some – try it out and let us know if you have better luck.

BREW ON!