Joop - Lemon Citra
Spring House Brewing Company

Despite my having cut ties with Spring House B.C. for various & sundry reasons, beers CANtinue to surface in the backlog. My feeling is - WTH, I paid for it, I might as well drink, review & rate it, especially in the furtherance of The CANQuest (tm)!

From the CAN: "Keep Cold Drink Fresh!"; "Joop IPA Brewed w/Lactose, Wheat, Oats and Lemon Zest, Double Dry Hopped with Citra Hops".

I Crack!ed the vent & beCAN a slow, gentle C-Line Glug into the awaiting glass. It seemed to simply erupt in terms of its creation of two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with very good retention. While I was allowing it time to settle, I could not help but notice the pervasive smell that emanated from it. There was no question that lemon was involved at some level & I have seen it described as "Lemon Pledge in a glass" while being dunned for it! 8=O I would chalk it up to truth in advertising & while it may be intense, it CANnot have been a surprise. However, I would agree with dunning it for not being within spec for the style. I would CANsider it more of a case of gilding the lily in that since it was already DDHed with Citra, the inCANsion of lemon zest put it over the top. Color was a pretty Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) with a slight haze which just stubbornly refused to clarify. Leaning in for a sniff, the lemon citrusiness was like a punch to the snout! Phew. I like lemon, but this seemed over the top & uncharacteristic for the style. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy, but on the approach. The lemon flavor was just a bit too intense, as though they had not known when to quit with the lemon zest addition & CANtinued anyway. Phew! I would have recommended a happy medium between the lemon zest & the Citra hops as this was unhappily too large in its intensity.

Did you hear about the diminutive fortune teller who escaped from prison? An APB has been issued for a small medium at large! LOL.

I was not laughing as I returned to this beer. It was imbued with a tartness that threatened to set off my GIRD & I was not relishing the prospect. It was making my nose itch, as though my sinus cavity was rebelling from the inside-out. Finish was dry, rather tart with an unabating lemon citrusiness. It had about as much in common with an AIIPA or an AIPA as I do with a Nigerian relative. YMMV.