REVIEW: Mikkeller Citra Single Hop IPA

Sorry today's post is getting up a little late. Full disclosure: I just got back from seeing The Avengers. It was in-freaking-credible. Go see it. Anyways, what were we talking about?  Oh yeah, beer. So lately a trend that I've been noticing more and more of is single hop IPAs. What this means is that a beer has been brewed using only one hop variety. Most beers are brewed using a combination of different varieties to add different aromas, flavors, and bitterness. A single hop IPA really showcases the flavors of a specific hop variety. The most prevalent example is probably Founders' Centennial IPA which is brewed with, you guessed it, Centennial hops. Sixpoint, with their Spice of Life series, brews a different single hop for every month of the year. Today's beer comes from Mikkeller and is brewed using only Citra hops. To the beer!

This beer pours a deep hazy burnt orange topped with a towering rocky white layer of foam. That head took a while to recede and left tons of lacing as it did. A very pretty beer.

The aromas are dominated very bright citrusy grassy hop. It's backed by some herbal notes and some slight caramel malt.

Mikkeller's Citra is medium bodied and much smoother than I had anticipated. I was expecting something big and bitter but the bitterness if very soft and really only comes out on the lingering finish. Very pleasant light tropical fruit flavors from the hop are exceptionally balanced by the toasty biscuity malt bill. The flavors on this beer are all very subtle, delicate, and complex.

I reviewed Mikkeller's Hop Burn a while ago. It was a big, bruising, hoppy beast of a beer. I was expecting the Single Hop Citra to fall into the same line. It did not. This did not. An incredibly well balanced and very tasty beer indeed.