Accelerated Timeline
Mumford Brewing

Straight pour from a 16oz can to a tall, narrow pint (Green Cheek nucleated flute). No canning date, but from what I can gather this was released on July 11, six days ago at the time of this writing. It came from the brewery cooler and went as quickly as I could manage to my own fridge. Very, very good tasting conditions!

Appearance (3.5): This pours out a couple of fingers of crackly, somewhat quickly dissipating foam capping a not quite murky, extraordinarily hazy pale orange/straw colored body. A second pour offers more retention, with the head dying down a bit slower and leaving a half-inch collar of broken, craggy lacing just above the surface of the beer.

Smell (4.75): Hooooooly crap, this has a pungent orange Kool-Aid aroma, just leaping out of the can. Macerated kumquat, Seville orange marmalade, fresh lemonade, underripe pineapple, and a juicy shot of passionfruit seep into your nose like a citrus aguas frescas flash flood. Malt? Probably somewhere in there. A hint of sugar cookie and common crackers peep through, just maybe, but are utterly dominated by the intensely lush citrus.

Taste (4.5): Basically, what you’ve got here is a brighter, crisper, slightly electrified version of the nose. Passionfruit is present but overrun by the tarter side of fresh lemonade; orange Kool-Aid is here but blasted by kumquat skins; underripe pineapple is here but given a yellow grapefruit zest edge. The beer washes in with a taut, bright sweetness fleshed out by tangelo pulp and passionfruit—the sweetness of which never quite gets a chance to land, as the beer transitions into an electric, softly tart bitterness that offers just enough lemonade juiciness to stay light and swishy. On that note, the just-past-mid-palate bitterness dissolves into a grassy, floral character that hangs on well through the finish. No sign of booze. Like, I had no idea how to guess what the ABV was in this beer. 7.1%, apparently, but this is all juice and crispness. Where’s the malt? It peeks out of the shadows with a lightly starchy body pumping up the hops with a soft, doughy feel. That’s about it.

Mouthfeel (4.0): This rolls over the palate with a light tingle, preceding a soft, sparse carpet of fluffy, fluffy bubbles and foam, before the drying hop oils strip a good chunk of the very full juiciness down to the bone. In its stead, the beer deposits a layer of fine, tingly carbonation that foams up with a corresponding coarseness. Finally, it dissolves as it washes out, leaving a thin, drying film that beckons the next sip. Drinks below its weight, and it’s nicely juicy while it lasts, but it’s a bit starchy and hop-parched in the end. Still, crazy drinkable.

Overall (4.25): This beer is excellent. And what’s more, the first can I had was drank straight from the can—and let me tell you, that was a sublime experience. Honestly, it’s great out of the glass, too, but your enjoyment out of the can will be as high or higher than if you do it “proper”. I think everything you need to know about this beer is contained above, though: it’s wonderfully hoppy in both aroma and taste, thanks to double dry-hopped Citra, but it’s also juicy and crisp at the same time. Malt is … an afterthought. But not in a disappointing way. But I keep coming back to that drinkability. Definitely recommended, particularly if you’re a Citra fiend.