i just killed my keg of all Columbus Double IPA. i used 8oz total in the batch. i can tell you that there is not really a onion character when i was drinking it but after a hard night pounding these 9%ers i have a distinct onion/hop bomb left in my breath the next morning.

Columbus in late additions seems to equal oniony character to me. But like spiderwrangler mentioned previously, and in my homegrown hops experience, hops left too long on the vine can give the onion bomb character.

Cheers,

The Fool.

I think that onion/BO is more of an individual perception. I was warned about that the first time I dry hopped with Summitt, but I only got a little dank and tangarine. I also dry hop with Columbus in smaller amounts and like the way it blends with other hop varieties. I'm not saying it's not there, just that different people percieve it at different levels or not at all. Like I think the cat piss thing is a fine line.

I agree that the onion/dank/garlic/B/O blends well with other hops. This has been my mission to find the right balance. I like this dankness character mixed with the citrus/grapefruit flavors that are found in Cascade and Centennial and the piney flavor of Chinook.
Alone, these flavors seem one dimensional. Together, they blend like butter, white wine and garlic in a pasta sauce. Magic!

I just made an all Citra beer. 2oz hops in boil and 1 oz dry hop. I pick up a hint of spicy BO in this hop.
My guess its the Myrcene oil levels.

After 1 week conditioning after dry hop, the spicy BO scent is gone. All I pick up is grapefruit/citrus now.

Cigar City's Jai alai IPA has a lot of the onion garlic funk to me. I'd be hesitant to blame this on any one hop. I just dry hopped a beer with 2 oz of simcoe and there is no detectable onion or "dankness". Just super fruity, Pineapple, peach, mango. Cheers to Morebeer for still having simcoe and quality pellets to boot.

Summit, after slowly and still not done yet, working through 1/2 lb of it, it's a garlic onion soup party when used by itself late in the boil, or during dry hopping when it's the most prevalent of the hop bill. However, Nathan Smiths dankness, which used Summit heavily and for dry hopping rocked, and I didn't pick much if any onion or diesel fuel notes I normally get with Summit. Highly recommend that recipe.

This shows that you can percieve the onion/BO aroma and second, that it can be put into check by balancing a blend with other hop varieties. Also, I have never dry hopped with Summitt alone, but I think Oscar Blues Gubna is all Summitt and I don't get onion/ BO out of that one myself. It's robust, hoppy and dank though.