DDH Valhalla
Triple Crossing Brewing

 

Pours a golden hazy perhaps erring towards murky, but there is terrific head retention - super pillowy and impressive. Lots of NEIPA makers really fail at retention and it is a pivotal part of a beer's presentation. Sorry, no iceman pours here.

The aroma is what jumps out at you from the get go. I opened and poured this while I was behind the "camera" (my phone lol) and you could smell the beer from a couple feet away. Tons of mango, papaya, pineapple. Maybe a little bit of pinesap in there too.

The mango and papaya continue as you taste it. It's a little pithy with resin on the finish. It kind of has those expressed citrus peel oils that you get when you order a cocktail that features one.

It's super soft and creamy. I don't know if this interferes with the presentation of the hop character. It's pleasant to drink, but not as in your face intense as I would expect from a turned up, double dry hopped Citra beer.

DDH Valhalla is definitely good, albeit a little bit underwhelming. I was expecting a more tropical fruit driving this conversation. It's not particularly sweet and finishes dry. It's a good beer, but perhaps not what I want from a DDH Citra DIPA.

EDIT: Upon subsequent cans of the 4 pack, this is an excellent citra focused DIPA that hits all the notes that you want.