Bruce Lychee & the Summer Fruit Hop Series

Bruce Lychee is the third release of our Summer Fruit Hop Series, and one of the most highly anticipated by PCC staff, hitting both taprooms on Thursday, August 18. This cider was an experimental cider last summer from Deron Davenport, our cider maker here at Portland Cider, which was the inspiration for the entire series this year.

It takes our base cider made of 100% northwest apples, which we then extract a small amount of to properly steep the Amarillo & Citra hops. This is accomplished by adding the hops, then raising the temperature to exactly what is needed to express oils from the hop. By following this method, we're able to achieve the exact flavor profile were looking for by using the Amarillo & Citra hops, not just their aromas like we would if we dry hop infused the cider.

Once this intensely hopped cider is cooled and blended back to our base cider, we begin blending in fresh pressed Lychee fruit. We use our old school press for this project, to ensure we get as much juice as possible from this exotic fruit. By blending the two fruit juices together post-fermentation of the cider, we're able to keep the fresh & uniquely exotic flavor of the Lychee fruit.

The process creates a cider with exotic notes of melon and rose, balanced with the subtle citrus aromas and bitterness from the hops. Basically, it's the BOMB.com. And it's amazingness inspired Deron to experiment with other fruit and hop blended ciders, leading to the Summer Fruit Hop Series this year.

The Summer Fruit Hop Series is about experimentation and adventure in cider making, focused on making limited batches for only month-long releases, only available at our taprooms. Each release is inspired by the seasonal bounty of berries, fruits and growing hops here in the Northwest. Some of the ciders have been so well received, we ending up making more to send out to our distributors (June's release)!

To sample all of the ciders in the series at once, join us Saturday , Sept 24 for the Fruit & Hop Cider End of Summer Celebration. Three guest cideries will be joining us at our Clackamas Taproom + Cidery, debuting their own take on a Fruit & Hop infused cider. All the releases from our Summer Fruit Hop Series will be featured as well:

• Boysenberry Hop (June release – 2nd place in the Portland Fruit Beer Festival!)
• Lemon Hop (July release)
• Bruce Lychee (August release)
• September TBD (we're still experimenting! Possibly raspberry, maybe nectarine... we shall see!)

Find more details and RSVP at the Facebook Event Page. We hope to see you there!