With so many new hop varieties out there to try these days, it’s hard to pick a place to start. This week we start a new short series on three of the newer hop varieties that have made us curious over the last couple years. The first in this series is Mosaic Hops!

Let’s set the stage: To evaluate these hops, we went with a simple BIAB SMASH format using American 2 row as the base malt and each hop spread across the boil to hopefully get a sense of its bittering, flavor, and aroma properties. The hopping schedule has each addition measured to be a quarter ounce at a time. The first addition is added at 60 minute, the second is added at 10 minutes, followed by an addition added at flameout. The last addition is added for three days of dry hopping after fermentation.

Check out our original MOSAIC HOPS Profile.

So how did Mosaic Hops perform?

First off, the aroma is certainly grapefruit pith like, piney, hop resin, and maybe a touch of dark stone fruit.

Pine and classic grapefruit dominate any subtleties in there. The bitterness is certainly dank. It’s resinous. It sticks on the palate for a considerable time.

It has an aggressive bitterness. The flavor is more citrus, still pith like from a citrus rind and a definite pine like finish. There is a subtle fruit finish in it but is overwhelmed by the pine and citrus dankness.

The popular descriptor for this hop is piney, citrus, tropical fruit and mango. Interestingly many describe it as blueberry.

Our impression varies slightly. We get no blueberry from this though there is a fruity quality that could be described as tropical. But it’s the pine and resiny citrus that drive the profile. Probably related to the Simcoe part of the cross with Nugget hops where this new cultivar came from.

There you have it. Certainly a hop that has potential as a resin booster in your bittering charge. Perhaps with some sweeter malts and blended with some fruitier hops you might magnify the tropical fruit quality quite a bit.

You just have to experiment, but hopefully this video taste test helps you fill in your expectations before buying some Mosaic for your next pale ale or IPA.

Tell us about your Mosaic experiences in the comments or on YouTube.

Brew On.