Pacific Gem
Posted by Jared Birbeck on Sunday, August 2, 2009
High Alpha, a hint of blackberry and a 'cask oak' flavour are things that get said about this New Zealand hop. It was enough to generate interest to try it. The recipe was a simple mix of Munich and Pale malt with hops going in every five minutes from 30 minutes to flame out. Wyeast 1026 (cask ale) was used to ferment as it should have complimented the cask oak flavours. A bit more thought should have gone into the hop schedule perhaps.
Pacific Gem has its place, but as a big flavouring hop it does not. Adding 0.2g/l every five minutes was simply too much. With around 1.25g/l in the flavour country and 0.6g/l in aroma the resulting beer is overpowered by this strongly flavoured hop.The beer does have a hint of blackberry aroma, and flavour. But the beer is like taking one of the blackberry herbal teas and adding it to every glass of beer. It's simply awful. It tastes like it should be sweet because of the blackberry, but it isn't. The hop flavour is simply too strong, too overpowering and at those addition levels it probably shouldn't be.
The positives - the bitterness is smooth. It would make a great bittering hop with its high alpha and low cohomulone. Perhaps a bit longer in the bottle will help those overpowering blackberry note to die down a bit. Maybe it is one to try again, in much lower concentrations. However, proceed with caution with any late additions as the flavour from these hops can be overpowering.
Pacific Gem has its place, but as a big flavouring hop it does not. Adding 0.2g/l every five minutes was simply too much. With around 1.25g/l in the flavour country and 0.6g/l in aroma the resulting beer is overpowered by this strongly flavoured hop.The beer does have a hint of blackberry aroma, and flavour. But the beer is like taking one of the blackberry herbal teas and adding it to every glass of beer. It's simply awful. It tastes like it should be sweet because of the blackberry, but it isn't. The hop flavour is simply too strong, too overpowering and at those addition levels it probably shouldn't be.
The positives - the bitterness is smooth. It would make a great bittering hop with its high alpha and low cohomulone. Perhaps a bit longer in the bottle will help those overpowering blackberry note to die down a bit. Maybe it is one to try again, in much lower concentrations. However, proceed with caution with any late additions as the flavour from these hops can be overpowering.