With so many different hops available these days, it's impossible for each homebrewer to brew all of them single-handedly. Jim's Beer Kit is a great place to read what worked for other homebrewers, but it's especially handy when commercial brewers do this "dirty-work" for us. I taste every single-hop beer I can find, and post ratings to Ratebeer, which serves as a handy online resource whenever I need to remember my impressions of a certain hop. It occured to me these thoughts might benefit other nerdy homebrewers on this forum too.
Disclaimer: these are my own subjective opinionated conclusions, based on just one sample, at one specific moment in time. I am frequently surprised by how much another brewer's results differ, even using the same single hop variety. Your mileage may vary, and I certainly don't think my taste buds are superior to anyone else's.
From my Ratebeer rating of Alpha Pacific Gem IPA
Aroma: 6 out of 10, Appearance: 3 out of 5, Taste: 7 out of 10 , Palate: 3 out of 5, Overall: 13 out of 20
Total Score: 3.2 out of 5
Sampled at their tap room, thanks Derrick! It poured a mostly clear golden amber colour with weak white foam. The grainbill was kept simple in order to showcase the unusual New Zealand hop. So far, I’ve enjoyed Pacific Gem each time I’ve encountered it. It shares traits with its Cluster and Fuggle parents, but with a stronger, sharper bitterness and additional resiny, melon-y, Chamomile herbal tea-like notes. As with all these Alpha single-hop trials, the focus is squarely on the hops, and aren’t "balanced" beers per se, but there’s nothing wrong with that. A decent hoppy summer refreshment even if you didn’t know the back-story. As a brewer, I'd say Pacific Gem has a clean bitterness, great big flavour, somewhat tamer aroma, would blend nicely with other fruity hops.