Hop Making Sense
Cellarmaker Brewing Co.

 

 

Pale amber brew with long lasting foam in the GameCraft Pilsner glass. Aroma of lime. Tastes of sweet orange that continues into a long aftertaste with quite moderate bitterness. Light bodied and pleasantly sudsy. Overall this is a friendlier kind of hoppy brew. It has robust flavors but a mellow finish. One of my favorites for 2026. From the 16 oz can purchased at San Diego Wine & Beer. Dated 12/12/25. Hopped with Nelson, Mosaic, Strata and Centennial.

 

 

16oz can. Poured out a clear, golden orange color with a small, white head of fluffy foam. It left sudsy lacing. It smelled of orange peel, sweet caramel malt and floral notes. Sweet fruity taste with orange, caramel and a piney bite.

 

Can poured into a Mountain Rambler Brewery pint glass

A: Pours faintly hazy golden straw yellow with a frothy off white head that settles to a thin layer and leaves some nice spotty lacing.

S: Grassy green, floral, herbal, citrus zest, pine, a little underlying fruity side, and crackery grainy malt with a bone dry finish.

T: Bright, grassy, citrus zest, grapefruit, lemon, lime, and a touch of tangerine, herbal pine, floral, light underlying tropical, exotic, and stone fruit, gooseberry, strawberry, pineapple, white grape, apricot, and passion fruit, crackery malt, and a bone dry finish.

M: Light body, moderate carbonation.

O: Cellarmaker are the kings of light flavorful pale ales, and this one is their style in bold all caps with exclamation points. Dare I say it's almost too light and verging on "West Coast Pilsner" territory. Almost. Everything shows up creating a bright, crisp, complex crusher. As much as I'd like to say that a little more malt presence and a touch of sweetness would help carry things through, it would create a totally different beer. One that I'd be very interested in trying, but that's besides the point. I'm sure some will like this one more and some will like it less than I do, but ya gotta respect their ability to cram so much into such a light beer.

 

 

Draft at Beercraft. Glowing golden, head fades to ring. Aroma hints at the grain bill, bready. Taste gets fruity and tangy, very smooth. Subdues, but underneath all that simplicity, lies a complex beast. Full bodied, gentle, small bite hangs on forever. Really nice.

A: Hoppy with notes of citrus, dank and grape, light sweetness.

A: Gold color, totally clear, with a moderate, uniform white head, solid retention and lots of lacing in the glass.

T: Crisp, hoppy flavors of citrus, dank grape, and berries, followed by moderately sweet cereal grains, moderate hop bitterness and a dry finish.

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

O: Solid; the beer has great pungent character, but at the same time very easy to drink.

32 oz growler poured into a snifter. Cloudy gold/bronze colors, not very active carb with slight foam and lacing. Super strong nose with bitter hops on the forefront, mild citrusy background. Light tangy hop front on the taste with a clean full mouthfeel. EDIT: had to up the taste category a quarter point because I thought this was an IPA and then I looked at the label again. Killer APA.

 

 

 

I was a bit disappointed with this one.