173,174,175 - Mozart Pale Ale, El Dorado Pale Ale & Motueka Pale Ale tasting notes from left to right on the pic below.
starting with Mozart, all are almost 3 months old, very little aroma remaining just some crystal malt and a hint of blueberry and herbs, tastes fruity up front lots of lemon and orange with a nice rich malt. a bit sour on the back end with some berries, with a mild but dank bitterness and then a lot of blueberry and ripe mango. it still reminds me a lot of mosaic. oddly enough this is the only one that cleared over time.
Motueka has a really lovely floral aroma, like fresh lilac and a hint of rose and lavender. its a bit balanced with a nice bready malt. taste wise its more floral and a crackery malt, not fruity at all. bitterness is pretty mild and earthy and lingers for a while. The malts shine more on this one and it's actually a pretty decent beer after its sat for a while.
El Dorado is probably the most carbonated, i had this the first time i brewed with it and i think el dorado is one of those hops that causes significant hop creep. this one smells great, i get cherry candy, almost like when you open a pack of cherry lifesavers. theres a bit of bready malt again like the others but its quite muted and some yeast at the end. taste wise this one is a lot more similar to the mozart, lots of citrus fruit in the inital tastes which fades with some lingering cherry. not a lot of malt flavor on this one as it is the lightest mouthfeel of all and it fades really quickly a bit sour as well. bitterness is very light and almost lemon zest bitter but not nearly as bitter.
i also mixed them all to sample as one, aroma from the mozart is the most prominent, getting more blueberry and herbs than even the standalone one. much more crystal malt and crackers on this one. taste is a weird combo of fruity soap, a lot of flavors that are not meshing very well. the malt actually shines the most though and is a nice doughy bread. still very fruity mostly straight up orange and flowers. its growing on me the more i drink. i think the floral is just not meshing with the fruit. i am going to try mozart and el dorado alone.
mozart and el dorado smells like raw bread dough and herbs, maybe even onions or at least chives and very ripe mango. its tastes very fruity again, this time more ripe strawberries and rasberries. its not bad combined like this much less overwhelming without the motueka.
so out of the three i am having a hard time choosing my favorite. i think i tended to prefer the mozart but also enjoyed the el dorado as a more refreshing version. the floralness of motueka was a little overwhelming for me and was borderline soapy, still super unique though. none of the three were really stand out or could be considered stand alone hops. i am also having a hard time thinking what would combine the best with what. i think el dorado would go well with citra and galaxy, mozart might mesh well with mosaic and columbus and motueka with any of the noble hops, or maybe centennial... although this might be overwhelming floral. i have to admit though i will very likely not use any of the three in the future as there are better hops out there.
super fun experiment will definitely do this again, also note i am an over critical ******* on my own beers too. they are probably better than i am reflecting.
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You sound more confused at the end than at the beginning! I hope this isn’t a sign of how things will go for my own hop blending experiment.