Fresh Centennial
Project 9 Brewing Co.

Poured from a growler into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass.Pours a light to medium golden amber with a one finger white head with good retention and nice lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus hops, lemon and green onion. Flavor is pale malt, citrus hops, grapefruit, lemon, a little pine and floral notes. Clear lemony character into a solidly bitter finish with lingering grapefruit rind. Medium bodied with light to medium creaminess. I didn't realize this was listed as a pilsner rather than a pale ale until I got home (I selected by Centennial as my fresh hop variety here). Fortunately, there is much more Centennial than Saaz in the profile, so it's actually more like a hoppy pale lager anyway, with a little lighter malt body. Lots of alpha oils and a long, lingering citrus rind aftertaste, with nice lemony character. I think the malt is a bit too light for the aggressive bittering, but these days, I'm always happy to find a well bittered hoppy ale rather than a soft one, and I looked forward to the little burst of lemon at the end of each taste. One of the more interesting takes on a fresh hop this year.