CitraSqueeze India Pale Ale
HiJinx Brewing Company

 

 

12oz can into a pint glass. Batch #0033. actual dating would be more helpful HiJinx.

ugly looking beer. a TON of floaties. deep orange/amber body. small bubbly white head which thins to a covering and thick ring. still manages to leave decent lacing though.

strong aroma of mango. nice.

fruit flavors are present, but more muted than the nose would suggest, at least at first.

mouth is about medium. At the finish, the citrus flavors come through strong, particularly the grapefruit.

overall, a bit all over the place ratings wise, but the sum is a little more than the parts, and it evens out to a slightly about average ipa.

 

Sampling a cellar temp 12 oz can poured into a snifter. The beer is a gift from my brother Curt, Thanks!
Pours a clear golden hue with a spongey bleached white head of 3 cm, even with a gentle pour.
the aroma is a mix of citrus and piney hops with a little bit of grainy biscuity malt in the background. Kinda sweeter nose as the citrus is more orange than lemon or grapefruit.
First sip reveals a lighter body with very fine tingly carbonation. Texture is smooth and a little sticky on my palate.
The flavor is some sweet caramel malt briefly and then citrusy hops but the finish is fairly astringent bitter hops. No booze clues here, just a lingering bite after each sip. The beer really dries out after every swallow and has more bite than anticipated from the nose.
Physically an easy drinking beer but the dry astringent bitterness on the finish slows down my consumption.
A pretty good old school west coast style IPA even though the label predicts melon and a juicy IPA. Decent to try but not worth chasing IMO.

 

 

I am currently CANducting a brewery horizontal with HiJinx BC out of Allentown, here in PA. I had meant to do this for a while & got re-inspired during a recent visit to Dominion Pizza with Jeff Lebo, the CAN Man. I may be the founder of The CANQuest (tm), but Jeff is a CANlector who takes my empties for his CANlection. This marks my last one from them for now.

From the CAN: "The luscious aromas and flavors of mango, grapefruit, orange, and melon make this juicy IPA one that begs you to enjoy more than one."; "Tomfoolery in every sip!"

As long as there are no shenanigans involved, I am good. I had a now-hated supervisor who referred to my work as "shenanigans". I am glad to be shut of her & her ilk.

My Crack! was followed by a very slow, gentle Glug & not just because I had made a New Year's resolution to do so. One reviewer mentioned haze and/or cloudiness, so I take it as a personal challenge to see what kind of clarity I CAN create. SeCANdly, it was a brimful craft CAN that spurted on my fingers as the tongue had nowhere to go upon being opened, plus I got a little bit of foaming through the vent. Following the Glug, I CANducted a vigorous, in-glass swirl to raise two fingers of dense, foamy, tawny head with good retention, leaving behind sticky lacing in its wake. Color was Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 -5) with just the slightest haziness that may have even been attributable to chill haze as my reefer is kept pretty cold. Either way, it was enough to put off The Gelt Gang who prefer 24-carat clarity. Nose was very fruity with mango and orange leading the way, underlain by pine & with a bready malt backbone. Mmm. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but definitely thin for the style. The taste was more toward grapefruit and pine with a pronounced bitterness that I had not noticed on the nose. Finish was dry and bitter with a lingering mixed fruitiness well after the swallow. The name may invoke Citra hops, but I feel that it was more than just that one varietal at work in this beer. It was interesting, but I was satiated after just one. YMMV.

 

HiJinx Brewing Co. "CitraSqueeze"
12 fl. oz. can without freshness dating
$2 @ Wegmans, State College, PA

Look: Cloudy golden-orange with visible particulate in suspension beneath a finger-thick head of creamy off-white. As the head drops it leaves almost solid walls of lacing behind. Great head retention and lacing.
Smell: Mild citrusy nose with some orange and pine over a grainy malt base.
Taste: Fuller hops than the nose suggests with some additional tropical fruit (mango, melon) wrapped in a bready, lightly toasty, and softly caramelish blanket of malt. Solidly bitter with a dry, lingering bitter and piney finish.
Feel: Medium leaning medium-full in body with a moderate, smooth carbonation.
Overall: The appearance is quite good with the exception that it's so very cloudy and has particulate in suspension. It's cloudier than most hefeweizens. Had it been a NE IPA that wouldn't be a problem, but it's not. Fortunately it has great head retention and lacing. The aroma is limited for an IPA, and I'd put it more at pale ale level (or English IPA), but at least there's something there, and there are no off-notes. The malt is also quite strong and flavorful for the style, at least as an American IPA, with perhaps too much caramel and toastiness, although it works hedonistically and the hop flavors are strong enough to get through. The bitterness seems a bit strong but only in the finish, perhaps because it's binding with the malt and sticking around a bit - it's quite dry though because at the same time it's also bitter. So, overall, it's interesting, and in my mind, very much an English-style IPA done with American hops. Judged as an American IPA it scores quite poorly but I like it and I've been lenient and gone with a more hedonistic approach.

 

 

 

Poured from a can. Nice golden color. Not a lot of smell, very slight fruit smell. Grapefruit is pretty apparent on the taste. Hoppy with very little malt taste. Smooth and easy to drink.