diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit.hs
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@
     , requestBody
     , proxy
     , socksProxy
+    , hostAddress
     , rawBody
     , decompress
     , redirectCount
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/ConnInfo.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/ConnInfo.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/ConnInfo.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/ConnInfo.hs
@@ -156,15 +156,28 @@
             then recvD istate
             else return x
 
-getSocket :: String -> Int -> Maybe SocksConf -> IO NS.Socket
-getSocket host' port' (Just socksConf) = do
+getSocket :: Maybe NS.HostAddress -> String -> Int -> Maybe SocksConf -> IO NS.Socket
+getSocket _ host' port' (Just socksConf) = do
     socksConnectWith socksConf host' (PortNumber $ fromIntegral port')
-getSocket host' port' Nothing = do
+getSocket hostAddress' host' port' Nothing = do
     let hints = NS.defaultHints {
                           NS.addrFlags = [NS.AI_ADDRCONFIG]
                         , NS.addrSocketType = NS.Stream
                         }
-    addrs <- NS.getAddrInfo (Just hints) (Just host') (Just $ show port')
+    addrs <- case hostAddress' of
+        Nothing ->
+            NS.getAddrInfo (Just hints) (Just host') (Just $ show port')
+        Just ha ->
+            return
+                [NS.AddrInfo
+                 { NS.addrFlags = []
+                 , NS.addrFamily = NS.AF_INET
+                 , NS.addrSocketType = NS.Stream
+                 , NS.addrProtocol = 6 -- tcp
+                 , NS.addrAddress = NS.SockAddrInet (toEnum port') ha
+                 , NS.addrCanonName = Nothing
+                 }]
+
     firstSuccessful addrs $ \addr ->
         bracketOnError
             (NS.socket (NS.addrFamily addr) (NS.addrSocketType addr)
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Manager.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Manager.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Manager.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Manager.hs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     ( Manager
     , ManagerSettings (..)
     , ConnKey (..)
+    , ConnHost (..)
     , newManager
     , closeManager
     , getConn
@@ -47,8 +48,7 @@
 import Data.Time (UTCTime (..), Day (..), DiffTime, getCurrentTime, addUTCTime)
 import Control.DeepSeq (deepseq)
 
-import Network (connectTo, PortID (PortNumber), HostName)
-import Network.Socket (socketToHandle)
+import qualified Network.Socket as NS
 import Data.Certificate.X509 (X509, encodeCertificate)
 import Data.CertificateStore (CertificateStore)
 import System.Certificate.X509 (getSystemCertificateStore)
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
 import Network.HTTP.Conduit.Types
 import Network.HTTP.Conduit.Util (hGetSome)
 import Network.HTTP.Conduit.Parser (parserHeadersFromByteString)
-import Network.Socks5 (SocksConf, socksConnectWith)
+import Network.Socks5 (SocksConf)
 import Data.Default
 import Data.Maybe (mapMaybe)
 import System.IO (Handle)
@@ -110,9 +110,15 @@
     One !a !UTCTime |
     Cons !a !Int !UTCTime !(NonEmptyList a)
 
+-- | Hostname or resolved host address.
+data ConnHost =
+    HostName !Text |
+    HostAddress !NS.HostAddress
+    deriving (Eq, Show, Ord)
+
 -- | @ConnKey@ consists of a hostname, a port and a @Bool@
 -- specifying whether to use SSL.
-data ConnKey = ConnKey !Text !Int !Bool
+data ConnKey = ConnKey !ConnHost !Int !Bool
     deriving (Eq, Show, Ord)
 
 takeSocket :: Manager -> ConnKey -> IO (Maybe ConnInfo)
@@ -294,53 +300,47 @@
 nonEmptyMapM_ f (Cons x _ _ l) = f x >> nonEmptyMapM_ f l
 
 getSocketConn
-    :: MonadResource m
-    => Manager
+    :: Maybe NS.HostAddress
     -> String
     -> Int
     -> Maybe SocksConf -- ^ optional socks proxy
-    -> m (ConnRelease m, ConnInfo, ManagedConn)
-getSocketConn man host' port' socksProxy' =
-    getManagedConn man (ConnKey (T.pack host') port' False) $
-        getSocket host' port' socksProxy' >>= socketConn desc
+    -> IO ConnInfo
+getSocketConn hostAddress' host' port' socksProxy' =
+    getSocket hostAddress' host' port' socksProxy' >>= socketConn desc
   where
     desc = socketDesc host' port' "unsecured"
 
 socketDesc :: String -> Int -> String -> String
 socketDesc h p t = unwords [h, show p, t]
 
-getSslConn :: MonadResource m
-            => ([X509] -> IO CertificateUsage)
+getSslConn ::  ([X509] -> IO CertificateUsage)
             -> [(X509, Maybe PrivateKey)]
-            -> Manager
+            -> Maybe NS.HostAddress
             -> String -- ^ host
             -> Int -- ^ port
             -> Maybe SocksConf -- ^ optional socks proxy
-            -> m (ConnRelease m, ConnInfo, ManagedConn)
-getSslConn checkCert clientCerts man host' port' socksProxy' =
-    getManagedConn man (ConnKey (T.pack host') port' True) $
-        (connectionTo host' (PortNumber $ fromIntegral port') socksProxy' >>= sslClientConn desc host' checkCert clientCerts)
+            -> IO ConnInfo
+getSslConn checkCert clientCerts hostAddress' host' port' socksProxy' =
+    connectionTo hostAddress' host' port' socksProxy' >>= sslClientConn desc host' checkCert clientCerts
   where
     desc = socketDesc host' port' "secured"
 
 getSslProxyConn
-            :: MonadResource m
-            => ([X509] -> IO CertificateUsage)
+            :: ([X509] -> IO CertificateUsage)
             -> [(X509, Maybe PrivateKey)]
             -> S8.ByteString -- ^ Target host
             -> Int -- ^ Target port
-            -> Manager
+            -> Maybe NS.HostAddress
             -> String -- ^ Proxy host
             -> Int -- ^ Proxy port
             -> Maybe SocksConf -- ^ optional SOCKS proxy
-            -> m (ConnRelease m, ConnInfo, ManagedConn)
-getSslProxyConn checkCert clientCerts thost tport man phost pport socksProxy' =
-    getManagedConn man (ConnKey (T.pack phost) pport True) $
-        doConnect >>= sslClientConn desc phost checkCert clientCerts
+            -> IO ConnInfo
+getSslProxyConn checkCert clientCerts thost tport phostAddr phost pport socksProxy' =
+    doConnect >>= sslClientConn desc phost checkCert clientCerts
   where
     desc = socketDesc phost pport "secured-proxy"
     doConnect = do
-        h <- connectionTo phost (PortNumber $ fromIntegral pport) socksProxy'
+        h <- connectionTo phostAddr phost pport socksProxy'
         L.hPutStr h $ Blaze.toLazyByteString connectRequest
         hFlush h
         r <- hGetSome h 2048
@@ -423,10 +423,15 @@
         -> Manager
         -> m (ConnRelease m, ConnInfo, ManagedConn)
 getConn req m =
-    go m connhost connport (socksProxy req)
+    getManagedConn m (ConnKey connKeyHost connport (secure req)) $
+        go connaddr connhost connport (socksProxy req)
   where
     h = host req
     (useProxy, connhost, connport) = getConnDest req
+    (connaddr, connKeyHost) =
+        case (hostAddress req, useProxy, socksProxy req) of
+            (Just ha, False, Nothing) -> (Just ha, HostAddress ha)
+            _ -> (Nothing, HostName $ T.pack connhost)
     go =
         case (secure req, useProxy) of
             (False, _) -> getSocketConn
@@ -471,7 +476,6 @@
                 Nothing -> Map.singleton encoded expire
                 Just m -> Map.insert encoded expire m
 
-connectionTo :: HostName -> PortID -> Maybe SocksConf -> IO Handle
-connectionTo host' port' Nothing = connectTo host' port'
-connectionTo host' port' (Just socksConf) =
-	socksConnectWith socksConf host' port' >>= flip socketToHandle ReadWriteMode
+connectionTo :: Maybe NS.HostAddress -> NS.HostName -> Int -> Maybe SocksConf -> IO Handle
+connectionTo hostAddress' host' port' socksConf' =
+    getSocket hostAddress' host' port' socksConf' >>= flip NS.socketToHandle ReadWriteMode
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Request.hs
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@
         , method = "GET"
         , proxy = Nothing
         , socksProxy = Nothing
+        , hostAddress = Nothing
         , rawBody = False
         , decompress = browserDecompress
         , redirectCount = 10
diff --git a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Types.hs b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Types.hs
--- a/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Types.hs
+++ b/Network/HTTP/Conduit/Types.hs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L
 
 import qualified Network.HTTP.Types as W
+import qualified Network.Socket as NS
 import Network.Socks5 (SocksConf)
 
 import Control.Exception (Exception, SomeException, IOException)
@@ -95,6 +96,10 @@
     -- ^ Optional HTTP proxy.
     , socksProxy :: Maybe SocksConf
     -- ^ Optional SOCKS proxy.
+    , hostAddress :: Maybe NS.HostAddress
+    -- ^ Optional resolved host address.
+    --
+    -- Since 1.8.9
     , rawBody :: Bool
     -- ^ If @True@, a chunked and\/or gzipped body will not be
     -- decoded. Use with caution.
diff --git a/http-conduit.cabal b/http-conduit.cabal
--- a/http-conduit.cabal
+++ b/http-conduit.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            http-conduit
-version:         1.8.8
+version:         1.8.9
 license:         BSD3
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>
diff --git a/test/main.hs b/test/main.hs
--- a/test/main.hs
+++ b/test/main.hs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 import Network.HTTP.Conduit.ConnInfo
 import Network (withSocketsDo)
 import Network.Socket (sClose)
+import qualified Network.BSD
 import CookieTest (cookieTest)
 import Data.Conduit.Network (runTCPServer, serverSettings, HostPreference (..), appSink, appSource, bindPort, serverAfterBind, ServerSettings)
 import qualified Data.Conduit.Network
@@ -40,7 +41,10 @@
 app :: Application
 app req =
     case pathInfo req of
-        [] -> return $ responseLBS status200 [] "homepage"
+        [] ->
+            if maybe False ("example.com:" `S.isPrefixOf`) $ lookup "host" $ Wai.requestHeaders req
+                then return $ responseLBS status200 [] "homepage for example.com"
+                else return $ responseLBS status200 [] "homepage"
         ["cookies"] -> return $ responseLBS status200 [tastyCookie] "cookies"
         ["cookie_redir1"] -> return $ responseLBS status303 [tastyCookie, (hLocation, "/checkcookie")] ""
         ["checkcookie"] -> return $ case lookup hCookie $ Wai.requestHeaders req of
@@ -219,6 +223,14 @@
                 res1 <- httpLbs req manager
                 res2 <- httpLbs req manager
                 liftIO $ res1 @?= res2
+
+    describe "hostAddress" $ do
+        it "overrides host" $ withApp app $ \port -> do
+            entry <- Network.BSD.getHostByName "127.0.0.1"
+            req' <- parseUrl $ "http://example.com:" ++ show port
+            let req = req' { hostAddress = Just $ Network.BSD.hostAddress entry }
+            res <- withManager $ httpLbs req
+            responseBody res @?= "homepage for example.com"
 
 withCApp :: Data.Conduit.Network.Application IO -> (Int -> IO ()) -> IO ()
 withCApp app' f = do