Double! Citra Monster
Mirror Twin Brewing

Double Dry Hopped, and now coming in Imperial form, Mirror Twin's Monster series just went on a New England styled steroid hop regimen, with Citra hops becoming the centerpiece in taste.

Honey gold and pastel in its shallow shades, a creamy lather of tarnish froth builds much like the original Citra Monster. But the magic begins as Double! Citra Monster floods the nose with even a bigger punch of all-things-orange and a backdrop of citronella and cream. As its rich malts begin to coat the tongue, its full cereal, honey and shortbread sweetness acts as a buffer from the building hops.

But the hops win out quickly on the middle palate as its larger citrusy tone unleashes a flood of mandarin orange, kumquat, tangerine, nectarine and sweet ruby red grapefruit. Hints of mango and passionfruit make their way into a more succulent and tangier fruit display. The beer trends marginally bitter, herbal and pleasantly biting with a fresh grassiness, hemp, lemongrass and sassafras playing second fiddle to the creamy malts.

Lavish and full in body, the cereal balance remains to give the oranges a creamsicle, sherbet and vanilla-like softness. A finish of lemon leaf and orange peel trend medium long and slightly bitter on the after palate along with a smooth and racy hemp-like bitterness.

The monsters are on steroids!

Pours with a light head and opaque lemon color. There's a slight green note on the nose (this can was released 35 minutes ago), but it's all soft, pillowy juice from start to finish. No bitterness to speak of. Excellent.