Citra Pale Ale
Hill Farmstead Brewery

Pours that classic Hill yellowish lightly oated character. It's dry and it's bitter, the hops are very cat pee like. Whereas a beer like Double Citra really brings out the best of Citra, this is kind of a miss for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 months old. Can to wine glass.

L: Pours an completely opaque orangeish yellow with a fluffy white head that leaves plenty of lacing. A few very fine floaters visible in the bottom of the glass.

S: Candied citrus fruits, ripe mango and sweet strawberries.

T: Rather grassy than fruity with hints of fresh citrus fruits. Low sweetness, medium bitterness.

F: Crisp and crushable with a medium carbonation.

O: Classic pale ale with a bit of a discrepancy between smell and taste. Could drink it all evening long. Very good beer.

 

On tap at Magoun's Saloon in Somerville, MA. What a treat to have some Hill Farmstead on tap within walking distance from my house. Citra is definitely not my favorite hop, but this one as expected was a decent showcase of it: lots of clean citrus aromas and flavors, a nice crackery malt profile, and the highly mineralic bite that is usual for HF. Pretty similar to Edward, imo.

85/100

 

 

From a 16oz can, dated 06/14/22. Served in a willi becher pub glass.

Pours a moderately hazy, milky-pale gold with a scant finger of fizzy foam. Retention is OK, leaving a wispy cap and a persistent curtain of thin lacing.

Aroma is faintly sweet and lightly malty. Reminiscent of sweetened bread roll and marmalade.

Right up front, taste is more at the sweet orange slice end of the Citra spectrum, with a lesser bitter grapefruit pith character developing deeper in and on toward the finish. Dry and crackery with thin soda-like minerality, then an impeccably clean finish.

Feel is bright and seltzer-like, crispy, light bodied with fizzy, spritzy carbonation. Sessionable for days.

Overall, an exemplary pale ale - unassuming and super-easy drinking, it’s not going to make a hazeboi soil his cargo shorts but, man, it is as clean as a whistle, utterly without flaw, and everything you could ask for in an APA.

 

Poured out of a can dated 10/26, this displays a largely clear, only lightly foggy pale gold with a moderate puffy white foam head that settles to a persistently thick fuzzy blanket leaving all kinds of craggy lacing. On Untappd, past canned check-ins show this to be a consistently hazier beer.

Still quite tasty, but more punchy and crisp than I expected, it's overall bitter with a sharp zesty bite of orange rind, pine needle and even triple sec. A touch of toasted biscuit comes out in subsequent sips, but it's surprisingly bitter.

Feel is just shy of thin and watery, but for its airy yet fine carbonation. Oddly enough, it also seems boozier than Edward or even Double Citra.

Man, I can't believe how much trouble I went through to tick this, lol. I like it, but it comes across more like a Three Floyd's or Sierra Nevada ale.

 

 

Typical hill farmstead yeast profile with mice grapefruit and sweet fruit. Packs incredible punch for a lower ABV beer! Great body that isn’t too thick for the style but isn’t too thin either.