We have brewed some Single Malt and Single Hop (SMaSH) beers in the past to examine hop flavors and aroma of certain hops varieties, but typically we examine them (taste and pontificate) one at a time. This time, we have two SMaSH beers to try side by side in a triangle test. With three beer glasses in front of us, we are ready to throw down this Citra Vs. Mosaic challenge!

The Challenge

The challenge is a simple one. Could we figure out which beer was brewed with Mosiac hops and which beer was brewed with Citra hops if we had both beers in front of us? We decided to use the triangle test method – pour three beers in front of us, two of them of one beer and one of them of the second beer. All we had to do was to figure out which one was Citra and which one was Mosiac.

Easy, right?

Our Citra vs. Mosiac Tasting Notes

Let me tell you – this challenge was tougher than we first thought. These beers tasted very much the same. Note to self and to all: when evaluating beers, make sure you let them warm up. After the first few sips, it was clear they were too cold to really understand the differences. Once we had taken the time to evaluate, we felt that Citra had a stronger bitterness. It had a more green pepper aspect to the aftertaste. Mosaic had more melon-like fruit notes and it’s flavor impact was just lighter overall.

Both these hops, to us, seem to better with other hops in beers. We’re not sure if they carry themselves alone as well as say Galaxy does. They do bring a great fruity character to a beer so, for us, it’s about how you match these hops with others. From what we can tell, Citra is stronger and Mosiac is a little more delicate. Do you research and let us know where you stand.

BREW ON!