Hello and welcome back to the Eternal Hoptimists,
Today we are visiting the United States, Boulder Colorado to be precise, (Via Home Bargains) for a beer from Upslope Brewing Company in the form of their Citra Pale Ale. Now, I will admit that I am a sucker for citra and get excited whenever I discover a new brewery so as soon as I saw this, I thought win, win.
Here’s hoping that it lives up to my high expectations and finds itself at the peak of the slope rather than finding itself going downhill fast.
1. Name : Citra Pale Ale
2. Brewery: Upslope Brewing Company (Boulder, Colorado, USA)
3. Hops : Citra
4. Grain : Barley & Yeast
5. Aroma : Has a clean, lightly hopped aroma with the citra being quite subtle on the nose.
6. Appearance : Pours a light amber with a fluffy one finger white head and steady levels of carbonation.
7. Body : Has a nice, medium to full body with a pleasant mouthfeel.
8. Taste : Oh yes, the citra hop smacks the tastebuds as soon as this hits the palate. The beer has a great amount of citra leading to a lovely, lingering hop bitterness that is much more pronounced than the initial aroma suggested.
I was curious when I came across a range of imported American beers in my local Home Bargains store and whilst this one has been in my beer cupboard for quite a while there is little evidence of any hop fade.
The aroma suggests that this could be quite a steady and perhaps underwhelming beer, however the taste is far from this as the beer has an excellent, lingering citra hop bitterness backed by a nice malty backbone making this a rather enjoyable beer indeed.
At 5.8% abv this one is dangerously drinkable and will certainly prove popular amongst the citra hop fans and certainly made me want to pick up more of the imported beers that Home Bargains had in store as this is not only a new beer and brewery tick, but also a beer of decent quality.
Marks overall rating: 3.6/ 5.0
The|Eternal|Hoptimitsts 