On Friday I opened up one of the hop packs from a grab bag I got at the homebrew club Christmas party. It smelled like vomit. After I subbed out some good hops I opened up the other 20 packs and all but four of them had the same smell. The four had no smell at all, good or bad. I tossed the lot into the trash.
I’m not all that upset about it as they were free, but I won’t ever buy anything from a hop supplier who thinks it’s a good idea to give away shite to someone who might be a paying customer some day.
Did a homebrew store donate these to the Christmas party or did a club member include them in the grab bag?
Yeah. I’ve found that a reputable supplier will give you good stuff for prizes because their reputation depends on quality. Bot a store or person may just want to get rid of stuff they have laying around.
were they fuggles?
A possibility! 
Were they sealed by the manufacturer or repackaged?
The packaging had the name of the hop supplier so I think it came from them.
No. The very worst were cashmere.
It turns out that the hops did not come from the supplier listed on the packages: Michigan hop allience. They don’t deal in sizes smaller than a pound and don’t give away samples.
to Michigan hop allience.
Even though they didn’t supply the samples and I didn’t actually purchase anything from them they provided me with some fresh cashmere hops on the house. They smelled fantastic and I plan to use them in an IPA early next month.
Brian not only has great hops, he’s a great guy.
I can confirm he is a great guy. I love the Michigan hops he grows.
I have to tell y’all that he donated Michigan Chinook to my local brewery for an event the wife and I do for Pints for Prostates. The hops were so fresh and aromatic. The 10 bbl batch sold out in 8 weeks, and so many people said it was excellent.
If you don’t know, I’m a Prostate Cancer Survivor. My blood PSA is undetectable after 3 years. Hoping for more years.
11 days ago I brewed a smash IPA with the cashmere to 60 IBUs. 1.060 with Crisp #19 maris otter. Fermented with nottingham.
Final gravity reading was 1.014. It tastes awesome and I dry hopped with one oz, in three gallons.