Polaris hops and the cooling mint note they leave in beer

One of the strongest hops in Germany

Polaris was released by the Hüll hop research centre in Bavaria in 2012. Its headline number is alpha acid: typically around 18 to 23%, which puts it among the highest alpha hops grown anywhere. It also carries a high level of hop oil for a variety bred for bittering.

That combination is unusual. Most very high alpha hops are bred to be neutral, so you can bitter with them and add character elsewhere. Polaris is not neutral. Its oil gives a distinct cool, minty character that tasters often compare with menthol or mint sweets, with pineapple and some herbal notes alongside.

The dosing maths

High alpha means a small weight does a lot of work. For a 1,000 litre pale lager at 25 IBU from the 60 minute addition, at 28% utilisation:

• Polaris at 20% alpha: 25 x 1,000 / (0.20 x 0.28 x 1,000), about 450 g.
• A 4% aroma hop: 25 x 1,000 / (0.04 x 0.28 x 1,000), about 2,230 g.

Five times less hop matter means less wort soaked up and lost with the trub. It also means a weighing error matters more. Be off by 100 g with Polaris and you have moved the beer by more than 5 IBU. Weigh carefully on a scale you trust and dose from the certificate of the lot you are using, because alpha varies crop to crop.

Where the mint comes from

The cooling note is carried by hop oils, which are volatile. A long boil drives most of them off, so an early Polaris addition gives mostly bitterness with only a hint of mint. Late boil additions, whirlpool additions and dry hopping keep much more of the oil and bring the mint forward.

That gives you control. If you want clean bitterness, add Polaris at the start of the boil and keep the dose modest. If you want the mint, add it late. Taste carefully: because the oil content is high, even a small late addition shows up.

Beers where the mint helps

The cooling character can work well in beers built to carry it:

• Dark beers, where mint against roast reads like a mint chocolate note. A stout or porter with a small late addition can be striking.
• Strong IPAs, where it adds a fresh herbal lift under fruit forward American hops.
• Experimental pale ales, as a single hop study for a taproom.

In a classic German or Czech lager the mint usually tastes out of place. For those beers, use Polaris only as an early bittering addition or choose a cleaner high alpha hop. Our guide to bittering hops for clean lager bitterness compares the options.

Why one hop can be clean or minty

This split personality is a useful lesson in hop chemistry. Bitterness comes mainly from alpha acids isomerised in the boil. Aroma comes mainly from oils that survive it. Polaris is high in both, so what ends up in the glass depends almost entirely on when you add it. The same principle applies to every hop, but with Polaris the difference is easier to taste.

Other hops leave their own unusual notes, such as the coconut of Sabro or the green pepper edge of Ekuanot. Learning to predict them from timing and dose is a large part of designing a hop bill.

Storing a very high alpha hop

High alpha hops lose alpha acid as they age, especially when kept warm. Store Polaris frozen at around minus 18 °C in sealed foil and recalculate from the certificate each time you open a new lot. A hop that has drifted from 21% to 18% alpha over a badly stored season leaves your beer noticeably short on bitterness. In Indian warehouses without cold storage, that drift can happen faster than in Europe.

Polaris on a pilot or homebrew scale

At small scale the weights get very small. For a 20 litre batch at 30 IBU, with Polaris at 20% alpha and 28% utilisation, the working is 30 x 20 / (0.20 x 0.28 x 1,000), about 11 g. Here each gram is worth nearly 3 IBU. A kitchen scale that reads in 5 g steps can put you 5 IBU or more out either way, so use a scale that reads to 0.1 g. For a late addition aimed at mint, start with 5 g in 20 litres and taste before you go higher.

A first trial worth brewing

If your brewery has a pilot system, brew a small stout and split it after the boil. Add a few grams of Polaris per 20 litres to one half in the whirlpool and nothing to the other. Taste them side by side. You will learn what the mint tastes like in your beer, at your dose, before you risk it on a full batch.

Common questions

Why does Polaris taste minty?

Its hop oils carry a cool, minty character often compared with menthol. Late additions keep more of that oil, so the mint is stronger when Polaris is added late.

What alpha acid does Polaris have?

Polaris typically measures around 18 to 23% alpha acid, among the highest of any hop.

Can I use Polaris in a lager?

As an early bittering addition, yes. Late additions usually leave a mint note that feels out of place in a classic lager.