El Dorado Citra
Ilk Beer

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a hazy, light to medium gold with a two finger white head with great retention and solid lacing. Aroma of pale malt, citrus and tropical fruit hops, lemon, apricot, mango, a touch of cherry. Flavor is pale malt, citrus, piney and tropical fruit hops, lemon, grapefruit, faint mixed tropical fruit and pine; a little dankness. Moderate bitterness in the middle of the taste that lingers lightly. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. This is an example of a fresh hop ale that straddles the line between a pale ale and a New England IPA; it is quite hazy (a bit more than most fresh hop ales) but the malt is a bit lighter like a pale ale. The hopping is nice and bitter, so that moves over the line into a non-New England style IPA. Whatever, it's a pleasant fresh hop ale that displays the Citra and El Dorado hops well, although leaning mostly to the Citra lemon and grapefruit with the mixed fruit a bit more subdued. It seemed I was getting the hop bitterness more on the middle of my tongue and earlier in the taste than other fresh hops I've had this month, although there is a good, lingering citrus rind and faint pine finish. The fresh hops are winding down, but this has been an extraordinary year for them with lots of new-to-me breweries using fresh/wet hops. It's been grand. Good introduction to this quite new local brewery.