Hop Essence Series: Mosaic
Brewmaster Jack

 

 

Bottled on 3-15-15. Pours a golden color with 2"of foam that lingers. Smells of grapefruit and apricot, clean and simple. Tastes very one dimensional but in a good way. If mosaic is the daughter of simcoe then I'm in love!! Really drinkable with no alcohol burn. Kudos to brewmaster Jack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNRETIRED!!

Pours dark gold, lightly hazy, medium-sized head.

Smells Mango and pineapple. I never pick up the berry nodes Mosaic is supposed to have. Anyhow, even in spite of the ABV, the malt and yeast are tame enough to allow the hops to shine nicely.

Tastes like it smells: sweet tropical fruits with just enough of a malt finish to prevent the sweetness from getting too intense. Nice, refreshing, and bursty, but simple, and a little one-dimensional.

A- 1 finger of white foamy head. Good retention and excellent lacing. Opaque honey orange colored body with fine, visible carbonation.

S- Bright tropical notes of peach and some pineapple with underlying citrus (lime). Fresh cut grass.

T- Follows the nose with soft but bright tropical notes and underlying citrus (orange) and grassiness/straw.

M- Full bodied with medium carbonation. Super drinkable and refreshing for the style.

O- A bright and drinkable DIPL. Really well crafted. On par with DDH Mass Rising.

 

 

 

 

OK, the Simcoe version was pretty good, although the first beer I had from them was meh. This is also a Lager and not ale, so that should be corrected. Also clocks in at 8% which is interesting, and leaked a bit in the car ride home so decided to crack it sooner rather than later. Bottled March 10, 2014.

Pours ahuge huge head that looks like infection kinda head 3/4 of the glass is just foamy fluffy head that billows up and pillowy fade, messy lacing everywhere, super hazy pale orange color.

Nose brings plenty of Mosaic, plenty of juicy orange, orange peel and zest, little tangerine flesh, mild creaminess and orange creamsicle note, hint of dank resin and fresh hop oil, bit of pink grapefruit and pith, lots of citrus and mild tropical juicy fruit, with a hint of papaya and passion fruit. Very light malty base.

Taste starts with more juicy fruit, tropical and citrus again, with more orange juice, little zest and peel but also plenty of orange flesh, little pink grapefruit pith and bitterness, with grapefruit juice. Then a little tropical note, mild passion fruit and papaya, also a touch of pineapple. Fairly light malty base but a little sweetness and grainy malt, no real lager notes except a fairly crisp smooth finish. Finish is crisp and a bit dry but sticky, more lingering grapefruit rind bitterness and little more citrus fruit, hard to get all the flavors as the ridiculous amount of carbonation is quite distracting.

Mouth is med bod, just a faint touch of warming booze, but way way way too much carbonation, and it's not even infected just way over carbonated. I can see why it started leaking a bit in the car as it warmed a little and got shook up.

Overall not bad, I like how the Mosaic hops are on display, my second big Mosaic hop beer of the day, the hops showcase nicely with plenty of citrus and tropical fruits, and very juicy like an orange, grapefruit, pineapple, papaya kinda blended fruit juice. The only real issue is the overwhelming distracting carbonation which is a shame as the beer would be quite nice otherwise.