And here’s my own rambling response to your rambling response (and initial post which I meant to reply to at the time, but got busy at work. Damn work, always getting in the way of beer…)
A) Haven’t gotten around to trying Pacifica yet, but orange peel with spice and floral notes would certainly work well in hoppy British styles. I think citrus is ok, as long as it isn’t that sharp white grapefruit note that is the hallmark of the C hops.
B) That means Motueka doesn’t instantly put it out of style, either. It’s definitely citrus, but more of a lime/lemongrass thing. It’s also comparatively low oil, and it quickly fades into the background when paired with a more assertive hop.
C) I really want to like Summit. That tangerine flavor/aroma is truly remarkable. I just can’t get past the onion/garlic/asiago savory thing. Maybe I’ll test out your mid-boil suggestion in a pilot batch somewhere down the line. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but even a small amount of that character ruins a beer for me. When I’m using a pound of hops in 3 gallons of IPA, I don’t want to roll the dice on whether to include Summit and risk the whole batch. The savory character is just that bad to me. The tangerine is also most potent in the aroma, so if it doesn’t work as a dry hop that also kind of kills a lot of the attraction for me.
D) Burton Snatch is certainly not required in an EIPA as I read the BJCP guidelines. As a matter of fact, while it may be allowable, I doubt anyone would consider it desirable. Of course, I am pretty sensitive to sulfur, and I can start to smell a hint of it starting in the 250-300PPM range for sulfate. YMMV
E) Thanks for sharing your observations on oak. Some of that seems to line up with an interesting point made at last year’s NHC during the talk on wood-aged beers. The speaker mentions that the “woody” flavor seems to peak around 2 weeks in, but then starts to mellow and let other character develop. He found that around 6 weeks (IIRC) was the time frame where he got the best results from most wood varieties. I often hear brewers say that as early as 4-5 days after adding oak it could start to get too strong. I’ve wondered if maybe they just haven’t left their beer on the oak long enough. I haven’t really played around with oak, so this is mainly conjecture on my point, but your insight definitely has me wanting to do a bit of experimentation.
F) Beer Recipe posts don’t generally see as much traffic as some of the other boards (especially on the weekends), unless there is some glaring problem with your recipe. Don’t take it personally if you don’t get a big response. If you don’t get much of a response, I think it’s safe to assume that most of us think it’s a solid recipe that doesn’t need much intervention.
Cheers, and good to see you jumping in on the boards here!