Pacific Century Citrus IPA 2010
Baird Brewing Company / Fishmarket Taproom

Pacific Century pours a rich amber gold with a light white head.

The aroma is fairly reserved for an IPA, but citrus, pine, and buttery hops make themselves apparent.

The taste is bright and lively. The citrus blends in with the hops very well to create a refreshing, sweet, and bitter IPA.

The mouthfeel is about as it should be, with light prickly carbonation. And it's not as heavy as I'd expect for the ABV.

Overall, this is a great and unique take on an IPA.

An attempt to enhance the citrus character of American hops by using actual citrus fruit as well -- quoting from the brewer's description: "we combine loads of citrusy American hops (Simcoe, Cascade, Ahtanum) with the tart, piquant and highly aromatic local citrus fruit called daidai."

It does smell pretty nice, and the taste has a very obvious citrus character, a bit milder and "rounded" than the sharp and bitter citrus flavor of many American IPAs, but unfortunately it also tastes quite weak and watered down, with only a little hop bitterness evident (though it claims 70 IBUs), and a thin watery mouth-feel. There doesn't seem to be any real evolution in the taste as one drinks, it's basically just "very weak citrus with a very mildly bitter aftertaste."

This sort of thing might be refreshing as a sort of summer cooler, but very weak carbonation makes even that a bit questionable. A daidai may be "tart, piquant, and highly aromatic," but that character seems to be completely absent in the resulting beer. In the end, the impression is just "mildly pleasant, but a bit weak."

Color is a pleasant caramel, and there's little carbonation or head.