Sexy Hops - Sultana
Lupulin Brewing

 

I got a can of this beer from the beer store just around the corner. It poured a hazy orangish with white head that is leaving some lace. The scent had tart citrus notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with slight bitter citrus presence. The mouthfeel was medium in body with good carbonation. Overall its a solid beer.

All haze-ified, bright golden color, firm ivory head above.

In the nose: Sweet, fruity, soft. Tropical touches, traces of citrus. Lovely stuff, for the style.

In the mouth: More soft, more smooth. Flush with the freshness and fruit. Citrus notes, plus passionfruit and such. Ends on the dry side. Excellent drinkability. Low, very low hop bitterness. Exceptionally refreshing and delicious.

A single malt, single hop, hazy pale ale series showcasing the finest ingredients in the world. Thomas Fawcett Pearl malt's rich and bready flavors create a wonderful base for the huge pineapple and tropical fruit flavors of the Sultana hop.

Poured from a pint can into shaker pint glass.
A: Pours a slightly hazy orange-yellow hue with 1-2 inch frothy bubbly white head with excellent retention.
S: Tangerine, mango, key lime, pineapple, and piney orange.
T: Pineapple, tangerine, key lime, and bitter orange.
M: Light body. Citrus and tropical fruit sweetness. Moderate bitterness.
D: Excellent hazy APA. Great session brew.

 

L - Good head retention and leaves lacing behind. Color is a hazy dark yellow with some hops and maybe some yeast floaties throughout the glass.
S - Slight hint of grain and a little citrusy, but mostly faint smells overall.
T - Hop forward obviously, with some pineapple flavor and orange peel flavor/bitterness.
F - Medium carbonation and a little chewy in the middle, with tingling in the back of the throat at the end.
O - Very good and very unique. I'm not too familiar with this not-so-common hop, but it's interesting... in a good way! It's very much a hazy NE style IPA, but when I drink it the first things that come to my mind are pineapple and orange peels, and leaves me with more curiosity over this mysterious Sultana hop, I must have more...

 

Poured from a pint can into a pub glass.

Pours a very hazy (but not quite cloudy) pale gold with limited head but excellent skein of foam and then lacing.

The hop aromas are a well-balanced mix of tropical and citrus fruits, with a bit of resin, and just a hint of floral hops. The malts are straightforward clean pale grain malt with a solid bready quality.

The brew almost straddles the line between an APA and an IPA on the palate, but eventually tips over to the stated APA style. The tiebreaker arrives right on the tip of the tongue, where bready and grainy, rather than sweet, malts first present and then round out into restrained tropical (mostly pineapple) and citrus flavors. The mid-palate is where the variety and nuance arrives and eludes description. Grapefruit, white grape, white peach, white pepper, and lavender/soap all take turns. The brew finishes with an elusive dankness and a touch of pine. The flavors are generally well-balanced, although as the brew warms, the hops start to sting just a bit.

The brew is medium light. The carbonation is there but restrained, resulting in a creamy finish; and it's very drinkable.

This is a well-balanced APA that showcases a unique hop profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a moderately hazy golden amber with a two finger white head with good retention and thick lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, guava, pineapple, lemon and an unusual spicy mineral note. Flavor is pale malt, tropical fruit, dank and lightly citrus hops, grapefruit, lemon, passion fruit, pineapple, light stone fruit esters. An odd finish that has resinous quality, but only light to moderate bitterness, in the mid range for a hazy IPA. Medium bodied with light creaminess. When I started my plan to taste as many beers as possible, then scaled back to try as many breweries as possible, I did not expect that taste trends would change so much over the decade of the quaffing. I'd like to try one of my favorite styles from each brewery, to get an a balanced idea of what each brewery is capable of. In many cases now, if I want to try a brewery, I will likely have to sample a hazy IPA (or APA like this example), because that is what everyone is concentrating on, but which is a style that I have mixed feelings about. This one has the lower bitterness of the hazy style. Forunately, the Sultana hop is new and interesting enough to make this fun to drink. Parsing out the flavors is not easy, because it has tropical-like notes, but only pineapple is a clear flavor component. I like this one, it kept my interest throughout the can, which is unusual for the mellower alpha oil hopping of this style. This is a worthy hop and I'd like to see more examples of it.