Over the weekend my buddy asked me if I wanted to hit up a few new taprooms in town...."um, yes!".
On the way over to the first one he mentioned that they like to brew up some single-hop IPAs once in a while and that we might get lucky. When we walked in and checked the board, this is what we saw:
It's rare that you get a chance to taste that many side-by-side so we looked like this --->
I'm doing this from memory, so bear with me:
Belma: Aroma was good, not great. Taste was smooth bitterness and somewhat fruity. Really liked the taste of this one and would use as flavor addition in the future.
Mandarina Bavaria: Smells of orange (mandarin) for sure - not as strong as something like a BlueMoon but definitely in that realm. Did not care for the taste much. I think it needs something to balance out that hop and contribute something else to the profile.
Galaxy: Of the four testers that I got (my buddy got the other four) this one smelled the best. Yum! Super tropical and citrusy, nothing dank here. Taste wise, it also came across as the most resiny and somewhat bitter. I would use this hop for dry-hopping exclusively, I think.
Polaris: Never heard of it before and will never try it again. WTF? Smells of earth and mint. I couldn't nail down the mint aroma until I Google'd it and then when I saw it, I realized that is exactly what it was. Weird, not for me. Pass. No, thanks.
Now, for the 2 IPAs that by buddy ordered (we shared, of course).
Citra: We both LOVE Citra hops and have had and brewed single-Citra brews so we loved this one. Biter with it. Use for flavor. Use for aroma. Love it.
Mosaic: Biggest surprise of the day! Smelled like Citra x10.
I didn't think I'd find something I liked more than Citra but I think I just did. Taste was pretty similar, maybe a bit more complex but the bittering was a bit dry and grassy. I'd use for flavor and definitely dry-hopping.(Side note: Both the Scotch Ale and Weisse were tasty, too!).
This was an awesome experience and I'm glad that we hit this place up and were able to do a side-by-side-by-side-by-side-by-side-by-side tasting.
Oh, and the tasters were 6oz. 7% each. *hic*
Tasted separately it would have been much different because I would have thought some were better than they were. The ability to try them all together really made the difference pop.
Good times and a great learning experience!
