Flux Brewing Company is marking its sixth anniversary by bringing back a run of old favorites, and Homesick Double IPA is first up. The brewery credits the beer to assistant brewer Barry, calling it his all-time favorite - the kind of internal detail that turns a standard rebrew into an actual occasion.
This version isn't a straight repeat. Flux says it amped up the hops with Freestyle Hops Motueka SubZero Hop Kief alongside Riwaka, Citra, and Cryo Citra. Hop kief is the concentrated lupulin material sifted from the cone rather than the whole flower, so leaning on it as a headline addition is a more deliberate move than reaching for a standard pellet hop - and it lines up with what the brewery says is happening in the glass, where the New Zealand hops add a complex stone fruit character on top of the Citra-forward profile regulars already expect from Flux's hazy releases.
Thinking about the hops and flavor profile
Riwaka and Citra both lean tropical-citrus on their own, so the interesting question is what the SubZero kief is doing to the blend. Kief tends to carry a rounder, more concentrated version of a hop's aromatics without as much of the vegetal bitterness that whole cones or pellets can bring along with them - which tracks with a stone fruit note showing up instead of a straight citrus bomb. It's a way to push a hazy double IPA further without just adding more hops of the same kind.
Homesick returned to the taplist and cans on August 11, the day Flux reopened after a short break. The brewery is following it with a 6th anniversary party on Saturday, August 22, featuring live music, an oyster pop-up, and more new beers.
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