Single Hop Series: Citra
Eight Degrees Brewing

Copenhagen 4/6 2021, 44 cl can from N'Bro Kiosken, Nørrebrogade, Kbh. N. The can look like bad art from the eighties in orange, purple yellow, green and blue.

Pours almost clear, golden amber with a mid-sized white head. Settles as thin but consistent layer of foam just covering the surface of the beer. Crawling up the sides of the glass. Moderate lacing.

Aroma is medium intense with a malty fruity odor mingling with dry hops. Sweet pale malts mingling with peach and oxidized apple. A bit perfumed. Citrus and grapefruit.

Medium strong carbonation. Thin, oily, tingling, lively texture.

Flavor is medium intense with a medium strong sweetness followed by a slightly more moderate bitterness. Aftertaste is bitter and lingers for a while. Finish is dry.

I get the feeling that a single hop IPA based on Citra could be more assertive and bit more interesting. It'd not bad but it's not anything special either.

look: mahogany, chestnut coloured beer, fluffy smooth head that dissipates slowly, lot of lacing, good few bubbles racing through the beer.

smell: beer claims to have passion fruit and lychee, getting a little passion fruit but a lot of lychee, very mellow but aromatic, also getting some lemon zesty hop scents, some caramel sweetness, definitely a sweet smelling beer.

taste: this is great, that lychee really comes through, lot of malt flavour in there too, citrus fruits, nice bit of hop bitterness on the finish. tastes really good and certainly unique.

feel: medium bodied, medium carbonation, sticky, wet.

overall: a great brew, quite different too, big fan.

440ml Can from SuperValu, N.Ireland (£2.50):
Caramel tinged amber with a thin & foamy white head that covers the surface then a sweet & hoppy nose that has come caramel malts, citrus hops & light tropical notes. The taste was more fruity with some mango, lychee & grapes, possibly some passion fruit too whilst the body was strongly carbonated, lovely & crisp with a dry, bitter finish. It's pleasant but slightly gimmicky & not the best on the nose in truth.

Dirty blonde with a snowy cap. 4
Musty grapefruit rind with flecks of mango, honeydew, flowers, and dank. 4.25
Hit of blonde toffee, then grapefruit juice, lychee, D’Anjou pear, lime zest and kiwi. 4
Scratchy linger.
Halfway to medium, some chew, slight oil. 4

Mid-January ‘18 BBD, so call this 8 weeks in the bottle. That shows in the hops: gets all the fruity nuance out of Citra instead of just being citrus and cat piss. Grain bill is up to the job of supporting, body is balanced right - all the usual 8D markers of quality behind it. This would be the best beer in most brewery’s stable, but business as usual for (still) the best hoppy brewery in Ireland. 4.25