Lucky You
Ocelot Brewing Company

 

 

CANNED ON 09/23/2020 stamped on bottom of can. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Very hazy pale yellow with barely 1-finger of off-white head with low retention and spotty lacing.

S: Delicious lush aroma with peach, mango, pineapple, lychee, and orange with strong fruity yeast esters.

T: Heavy barrage of pineapple, lime, peach, and lychee with high level of tropical fruity esters. Low bitterness although there is a little edge there.

M: Very soft feel with medium carbonation and medium body.

O: A lush single hop double NEIPA.

 

Pours a pale straw hazy golden. You can’t see through it. There’s grapefruit, tangerine, some sour mango, and pineapple on the nose. It’s very chewy with mango and pineapple with some sour citrus and a tinge of bitterness. There’s some chewy bitterness on the finish as well. It’s a very nice single hop IPA from Ocelot.

 

 

16oz can. This appears to have been tweaked since the last iteration. All Citra. Just Pilsner malt, flaked oats, and malted oats. Canned a week ago.

Appearance: Super pale for a Double IPA. Pours a hazed out, glowing pale yellow. Great, frothy head that retains well into the glass and lots of sticky lacing.

Aroma: Citra to the max. Bright orange citrus, melon, tropical fruit, peach. A touch of soapy character, but well into the background. A hint of booze, but nothing crazy

Taste: Super well constructed. Pale malt base but enough sweetness to elevate the hop flavors. Bitterness is low to moderate, but helps tame the sweetness to a degree. Again, bright orange citrus, melon, peach, and tropical fruit dominate. Not much in the way of pine or resin. Super, super clean.

Feel: This drinks lighter than 8% and the mouthfeel is a big reason why. Soft and pillowy, but without the heft or residual sugar of other beers this style. Really nice, clean finish.

Overall: Not much to complain about here. This seems about the cap for single hop beers these days. As great as Citra is, it needs some help to round it all out. This grist and hopping schedule with a couple other hops to round out the profile....

Canned 05/31/18

L-The beer pours a pale cloudy yellow with a 2 finger white head. The head recedes to a thin ring with central island leaving excellent lacing.
S-The nose is a bit dank with some citrus notes flowing over the top. The overall intensity of the nose is modest, but the age of the can my have come into play here.
T-The taste is mostly citrus. Not tart enough to be lemon, but not sweet enough to be orange. It falls somewhere in between. The beer finshes slightly dank, but not catty as with some Citra beers. Bitterness is low and may be too sweet for some at 5 weeks of age.
F-Mouthfeel overall is medium and carbonation is on the lighter side. I think it could use slightly more carb but YMMV.
O- A good, but not great example of a single hop citra beer. Ocelot has much better to offer on the IPA front, but it's worth a go if you want to bring home some cans.

 

It’s been hard to get a hazy DIPA that packs the punch and feel of a DIPA but this hazy, pale yellow beer does just that. After moving along from a nose of spicy, sugary tangerine and what I’ll say is maybe lemongrass, I get that full taste of sweetness in a barely syrupy way. Flavor supports that candy, sugary tangerine plus some backend heat but nothing horribly bitter.

Can dated 5/31:
Pours a pale yellow and pretty foggy, but with a fairly nice soapy white head providing some lacing.

Nose is Citra (the sole hop mentioned on the can) but with a certain sweetness and more of a tart angle than I'm used to. Candied lemon stands out more than the dank citrus notes. There's also a slightly singed rubber-band note that also has an aspect of super-fresh orange peel - but with an odd astringent note. with my first can, this note was much stronger and near a put-off; with this can and what I recall on draft, it's a detraction from an otherwise decently Citra-hopped beer.

Taste is also a bit sweet to begin with, with a little bite - almost like a lemon ginger ale. The orange Citra hop note does come next before the beer evolves to lean to the bitter side. I get an orange/tangerine citrus note and a honeydew melon sweet note. The lingering bitterness is more pithy than piney, but there is a little of the latter. This can is smooth with a little raw oat, medium feel, maybe leaning towards the heavy. My previous can had some prickly carbonation coming through that maybe was caused by the same thing that added that astringent note that is missing now.

Giving this one the benefit of 2/3 tastings being enjoyable. It's a little more malty than I'd expect, which hides some of the Citra bitterness I like, but those who might like lower IBU IPAs might enjoy it more.

 

16 oz. can, undated, but release was around 6/7/18, so this is pretty fresh. Poured into Belgian ale glass.

L: Hazy golden orange, very Orangina looking. 1F soapy white head with good retention, leaving sheets of lacing and a cap and ring.

S: Pure mango-orange drink, with a hint of lime. Pils malts.

T: Taste profile is very much like the nose, quite dank mango-orange with lime hints as well as other tropical flavors. Flaked oats really smooths things out very nicely and finish is quite neutral.

F: Medium body, light carbonation so the finish is pretty long and not very dry. Construction is good and balance is OK. I'd want this to dry a bit faster, i think.

O: Solid all-Citra hopped DIPA. You rarely go wrong with those and they didn't.

Fantastic beer. Lots of tropical pineapple on the nose and the taste follows. This beer hides the alcohol well and is easy drinking. Pick it up if you can.

 

I feel like a Roman god, spoiled with one of the greatest beers ever crafted. This double IPA is unreal.