Single Hop Citra IPL
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Single Hop Citra IPLSingle Hop Citra IPL
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
 
California, United States
Style:
India Pale Lager (IPL)
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
84
Avg:
3.68 | pDev: 10.33%
Reviews:
18
Ratings:
35
Status:
Active
Rated:
Feb 09, 2021
Added:
Apr 08, 2018
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  4
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by IronLover:
Photo of IronLover
Reviewed by IronLover from Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Pale yellow in color with very good clarity. Poured with a moderate, soapy, bright white foam with medium low retention. Sharp, earthy, citrus rind and fresh mint aromas with medium, slightly bready, malt backbone. Medium light bodied with medium high carbonation. Generally light, crisp and clean. Citrus, mint and spicy hop flavors up front followed by medium light hop bitterness. Medium malty flavors with light doughy, bready notes. Minty and spicy flavors from the middle to the end with light citrus notes. Finished cleanly and crisply with light malty and minty notes. Clean, crisp, easy drinking, very refreshing, and a great display of what Citra hop character does for your brew.
Sep 14, 2018
More User Ratings:
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

3.68/5  rDev 0%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Pours the most familiar of all beer industry standards, the golden pour with good clarity. Head wasn't much for retention, but it was white in color and like the bobber in the pond going up down. Aroma was more Citra hop than lager yeast. Significantly more. Some IPL yeasts be all like "I'm here, I'm loud and proud," but this one was in the closet, just didn't reveal itself so much. Leaned on lemon just as much as grapefruit and orange.

Taste kept with the nose, imparting an amount of lemon generally not accustomed to in hoppy beers compared with say, wild ales. Perhaps lemongrass is a better descriptor. Mouth feel has a bitterness level that seems restrained for Sierra Nevada's core hoppy beers. Malt aspect is minimal and appropriate. There was a slight reveal of the lager yeast in the taste, but its pretty tame compared to the sulphuric and skunky ones my weird ass prefers.

Its a good enough beer, especially in the warmer months.
Feb 09, 2021
 
Rated: 3.68 by tankg from Pennsylvania

Apr 13, 2019
Photo of CTHomer
Reviewed by CTHomer from Connecticut

3.55/5  rDev -3.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
A: crystal clear; medium gold in color; 1+ finger ivory head that receded wa wispy cap; OK lacing;

S: grain and lemon;

T: follows the nose from start to finish; mild to moderate bitterness at the w;

M: medium bodied; moderate carbonation; moderately dry finish;

O: not enough aroma and flavor to stand out;
Apr 06, 2019
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

4.11/5  rDev +11.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Welcome back to my New Sierra Nevada (& Maybe Some Others) Beer Sunday (Week 727)! My mother owns a house in Chico, I scored these at the Friendly Greek Bottle Shop (FGBS) & now, I am anxious to delve deeply into them!

From the CAN: "Family Owned, Operated & Argued Over". Ha!

I Crack!ed open the vent & decided to invoke my ex-Old Lady, she of the micro-mini kilt who once admonished me that an inverted Glug was going to make a giant mess in her kitchen. Man, did I ever get some head! Off the beer, jagov - she's another story. It looked like a soft serve vanilla ice cream cone! It formed a giant puffy mound equivalent to three-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with excellent retention that ended up leaving loads o' lacing in its wake. Color was an oh-so-slightly-hazy Straw-Yellow (SRM = > 2, < 4). Nose smelled like summer - grassy, mown hay, freshly-squeezed lemonade, a loaf of bread directly from the oven … Ahhh. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but definitely BIG for a Lager. The taste was more like a Czech Pils than a simple AmeriCAN Lager! It was very juicy, grassy & bready. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Yummy yummy. Man, this was simply crushable. I CAN see putting a case of this in my cooler when headed to the beach this summer! It made me want to dance, prance & take a ChANce. Mmm. Mark yer CANendars - THIS Friday (01 Febrewary, annually) is Hula in the Coola Day! Put something in yer cooler that will make you happy & want to dance the Hula, especially if it's from a CAN. Finish was dry, not Brut dry, but teasingly, ticklingly, Tango-inducing dry. It made me weep when the last drops went down my throat! It was like the last kiss from a departing lover. As usual, YMMV.
Jan 27, 2019
Photo of secondtooth
Reviewed by secondtooth from Indiana

3.75/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Appearance: Pale semi-cloudy golden. Huge white head of froth. A little lace.

Aroma: Pleasingly fruity hops.

Taste: Smooth and hoppy but still detectably a lager. No bitterness, plenty of malts. An ideal hoppy IPL.
Jan 20, 2019
Photo of Beaver13
Reviewed by Beaver13 from Colorado

2.2/5  rDev -40.2%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 4 | overall: 2
12 oz can, packaged 9/5/18. Pours clear light yellow gold with a small creamy white head that retains well and laces the glass.

The aroma is sweet perfumey vegetal malts and fruit.

The flavor is sweet sugary perfumey fruits and grainy malt with a dry finish that doesn't have much hop flavor. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with smooth carbonation.

Overall, it's a bit of a mess.
Jan 02, 2019
Photo of mactrail
Reviewed by mactrail from Washington

3.98/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Clear golden brew with plenty of very white foam in the Stella goblet. Light and spritzy with some malty substance. Aromatic with something flowery, straw, and a hint of lime peel. Sharp and mildly resiny with a little astringency in the aftertaste.

This is not overly bitter but the hop fragrance lasts nicely. It seems like a good compromise for a hoppy beer on the lighter side. From the 12 oz can in the hop pack. All have been very interesting and drinkable brews.
Nov 24, 2018
 
Rated: 3.92 by BKotch from Texas

Nov 23, 2018
Photo of barnzy78
Reviewed by barnzy78 from Illinois

3.7/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
12oz can, PKGD 080118C. Golden colored body with a frothy white head that leaves thick lacing on the glass. Tropical Citra hop aroma: grapefruit, piney mango, lemon, biscuity malt. Flavors are zesty citrus (grapefruit & a bit of lemon-lime), tart passion fruit, mango, and pine; malt is modest with notes of biscuit and light caramel. Medium body, ample carbonation, moderate bitter finish that is dry and fairly clean. Refreshing and good, but seems like it's missing something.
Nov 21, 2018
 
Rated: 3.75 by DigitGrowler from Kentucky

Nov 11, 2018
Photo of ovaltine
Reviewed by ovaltine from Indiana

4.02/5  rDev +9.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Brilliantly clear bright yellow color with a dense white head. Citra hops are evident on the nose, and so is the lager yeast.

The Citra hops also dominate the taste, but the lager characteristics with the yeast and malt are very apparent. This is really well done, IMHO.
Nov 07, 2018
 
Rated: 3.67 by scootercrabb from Illinois

Nov 04, 2018
Photo of Mdog
Reviewed by Mdog from Minnesota

3.81/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From a 12oz can:

Appearance: Pale clear yellow, huge head.

Smell: Citrusy, dry, kind of meaty?

Taste: Bready lager body with mild citrus hits at the start and in the finish.

Overall: Beer 1 of the Sierra Nevada hop pack, even at 3+ months old there's plenty of hop goodness. This is a nice, easy drinking lager with a little more citrus kick than your typical lager.
Nov 04, 2018
Photo of StonedTrippin
Reviewed by StonedTrippin from Colorado

3.83/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
these single hop beers are cool from sierra, who hasnt really kept the innovation pedal down much, its nice to see some new beers from them coming through. this is a sturdy lager, not nearly as pale or light as we are used to in the style, a bit more of the classic crystal malt we know these guys for, which heavies this up a little bit, but i think also allows for a more robust and well rounded hop profile from the citra, letting some bitterness not be distracting and giving us a pretty full spectrum citra experience, a nicely crafted beer in that respect, just maybe without the drinkability i look for in these. i get a lemony freshness from the hops, and i get some character from the lager yeast right away, neat together, and then some floral element when i taste it, an early flavor peak though, and it fades out malty and almost over balanced to me, less of the dry hopped citra goodness on the back end, but the beer is fresh and satisfying by any measure. nice carbonation and a good briskness as a lager despite the somewhat bigger malt complexion. minerals, pine, and citra fruitiness finish it off. solid beer, not going to change the world or anything, but this is squarely in their wheelhouse and they did a nice job with it overall. looking forward to trying the others.
Nov 02, 2018
Photo of kitch
Reviewed by kitch from Hong Kong

3.64/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
A 12 fl. oz. can, packaged on 5th September 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.

Appearance: A clear golden straw yellow colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.

Aroma: Grainy, cracker malt, lemon, lime peel and citrus zest with a hint of passionfruit.

Taste: Moderate bitterness, grainy, lemon peel, lime and grass with hints of melon and passionfruit.

Mouthfeel: Crisp, light to medium bodied, with moderate carbonation.

Overall: Quite nice and refreshing with good citrus notes and bitterness.
Nov 01, 2018
 
Rated: 4.08 by Brucebeernut from Texas

Oct 28, 2018
Photo of descobar
Reviewed by descobar from Florida

3.34/5  rDev -9.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
poured into Spiegelau IPA glass. from can packaged 9/5/18
Look: pours lovely straw color with 3/4" white frothy head with average retention. clear as blue sky
Smell: intense citrus along with lemongrass. lime zest, fresh cut grass. light biscuity malts.
Taste: light on sweetness, strong to intense on the citrus, even with some acidity. Bitterness is there but arrives late to the party. when it does it hits the palate pretty strongly.
Feel: medium body, moderate carbonation and subdued astringency (yeah...). texture is almost rich. Finish is all about lingering bitterness and not always pleasant citrusy thing going on.
Overall: I love IPAs. I have liked (even) very few IPLs. this is no exception. disappointing. just weird with all this unbalanced citrusy flavors and acidity (too lemony). I will give it another try at some point since I have a few of these.
Oct 23, 2018
 
Rated: 3.72 by Mortarforker from Texas

Oct 19, 2018
 
Rated: 3.83 by scott2269 from Ohio

Oct 14, 2018
Single Hop Citra IPL from Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Beer rating: 84 out of 100 with 35 ratings