For Christmas I bought two of the four single hops oils from Bert’s Beer Basters. Here is test # 2 with 805 from Firestone Walker (plus a blend of the two)
I thought that 805 with a low 4.7% and because it is a blonde ale would allow for more hops to shine through and, indeed, when I dropped the Chinook hop oil into the foam, it sizzled. But with both hops, I got the same candy aroma and taste. I keep coming back to the phrase faux hoppy.
I tried a blended version of the two hops and that came closer to getting out of the “uncanny valley” but nothing beats adding the hops at the right time.
I feel like the oil needs to soak (may be the next test), maybe if the oil penetrated maybe more distinct notes would pop.