[erockrph]

One more for tonight - Meridian. These were 6.7% AA pellets that I got from Hop Heaven from the 2012 harvest. Pellets had aromas of apricot/peach with some dankness.

The nose of the finished beer is predominately necatrines. There is also some pine and some dankness.

The palate finds more peach/nectarine, and maybe a hint of tangerine. This leads into a resinous bite with some pine and dankness. Bitterness is moderate but it hangs around for a bit from the resin.

I'm really liking Meridian. It is predominately stone fruit in flavor, but on the sweeter side (I think of it as nectarines or even apricots while Caliente is more like a red plum). It has a nice bite to it that balances the sweet stone fruit. I think I'd like this best in hoppier styles since it does have a bit of a bite, but I think you can use it as a dry hop in a lot of other styles if you want to get creative (dry-hopped Berliner Weisse, maybe?).

This is another hop that you don't want to use in an underattenuated beer. The sweet nectarine note can be a bit much if you have too much sweetness left in the finished beer.

[jeffy]

I have to say, "thank you" for these notes.  They are some of the best evaluations of hops I have ever read.

[chezteth]

Great write up! The descriptions make me want to brew up a few beers.

[HoosierBrew]

Awesome.  Thanks. I definitely see Meridian in an IPA blend.

[bluesman]

Great insight/perspective to the various hops. Enjoyed your notes. Keep them coming. Thanks!

[fmader]

Awesome.  Thanks. I definitely see Meridian in an IPA blend.

I have a pound that I haven't touched, so I've been thinking this too. I've been thinking finishing with a 3:1:1 ratio of meridian:citra:simcoe.... Maybe bitter with Columbus.

[michaeltrego]

I'm really liking Meridian.

More great writeups - thanks!  I'm really liking Meridian as well.  I have used it to dry hop an IPA along with Mosaic and Simcoe, and recently used it to dry hop an IPL at a ratio of 1:1 with Mosaic and it was very nice.

[kramerog]

Great info!

I have heard that the onion/garlic comes from not harvesting the hop at the right time.  I think it is when it is harvested too late, but not sure.

I've heard that copper (such as in a copper immersion cooler) suppresses the onion/garlic. 

Also thanks for the notes.

[amh0001]

Lovin this thread. Are you fermenting these in glass wine jugs? I hope at the end you can make another thread about the recipes you decide to make with your new knowledge. Your description of Apollo sounds great. Keep it comin

[erockrph]

Lovin this thread. Are you fermenting these in glass wine jugs? I hope at the end you can make another thread about the recipes you decide to make with your new knowledge. Your description of Apollo sounds great. Keep it comin

Yep, most of the beers were in 1-gallon jugs. I ran out of jugs, so a couple went into 3-gallon Better Bottles and one into a 2-gallon bucket. Of course I didn't stop to think that I should have used the bucket for the one brew that I had whole hops for until it was too late. Every try to stuff half an ounce of leaf hops in a glass jug? Real PITA.

I have a few more tasting notes left to post, but I'm fighting a summer cold right now so it will be a couple more days before I get to taste them.

[erockrph]

Well, life got in the way for a while, but I finally ended up sitting down with the last two brews from this series. First up is Mosaic. These were 12.3% AA whole cone hops from Freshops. The raw hops smelled grassy, with some sweet fruitiness and a hint of tomato vine.

The nose on the Mosaic beer was very powerful with citrus (I picked up both grapefruit and lime), mango and some pine/dank notes. I also got a hint of onion, but just faintly.

On the palate I get citrus and tropical fruit notes balanced with dank & piney notes. I also pick up faint herbal notes, some anise and a hint of onion/BO. Again, the onion is there, but not overpowering. Bitterness level seems to be middle-of-the-road.

Of all the hops I trialed in this series, Mosaic was the only one that I've used prior to this. It's interesting that I've never noticed the onion in any beers using Mosaic prior to this. I'm not sure what to attribute that to, but it's something I'll be looking out for in the future.

It's no wonder that Mosaic has become such a huge hit. It just screams "IPA". It's a powerful, oily, complex hop and it tastes fantastic. Every brewer who's into hoppy beer should have a pound or two in their freezer.

[erockrph]

Last, but not least, is Summer. This is a fairly new Australian variety that I picked up on a whim because the description intrigued me. The pellets I used were 5.9% AA from Austin Homebrew Supply. The pellets had an herbal/noble-type smell with some sweet spice and some faint floral/fruit notes.

The aroma of the finished beer had notes of vanilla, leather, and earthiness. It also seems to really enhance the bready/toasty munich malt character.

On the palate I picked up cedar, vanilla, some dry spiciness and woody notes. Bittering level was moderate.

I was really surprised by my results with Summer. It was nothing like the apricot and melon descriptions I had read. I'm really not sure what to make of it, but the hop character I was getting from this beer is quite unique. It would fit in really well in English styles, but I could see it working well in dark beers, wood-aged beers, Brett-aged beers. I'm actually tempted to dry-hop a dunkelweizen with it as well. I'd be interested to see how this blends with other hop varieties.

[mabrungard]

I echo the findings for Mosaic.  I did pick up garlic/onion notes in the aroma and flavor initially.  They were to the point of distraction.  However, after a few minutes in the cup, those garlic/onion notes dissipated and allowed the fruity notes to display.  With time, those fruity notes were Juicy Fruit with a hint of tropical fruits and citrus.  Very pleasant. 

So I recommend that anyone facing a garlic/onion bomb let a few minutes go by in the glass and see if those 'off' flavors and aromas dissipate.  They seem to be fleeting.

[HoosierBrew]

Great tasting notes again.  Thanks !