This is the first hoppy beer I've brewed up in quite site time: Pale Ale with Citra and Mosaic. I decided to try a very simple and light malt bill (10 lbs of grain with 9 of that being pale ale and 1 lb being wheat). I was hoping it would top out at about 4% ABV for easy drinking and I hit my numbers very closely here.
The star of the show of this beer was to be powerful American hops: Citra and Mosaic. I've had these sitting in my freezer for a couple years now and decided I should attempt to use up a large portion of them. I went with 5 oz Citra in the whirl-pool and then 6 oz of Mosaic in the Dry hop. These created very bold hop aroma and flavor in the beer. I also bittered it aggressively with 3.3 oz of Chinook and Columbus.
I have had the beer in a keg for a couple weeks now and it's tasting very good and is well carbonated so it's time for a tasting:
Tasting Notes:
- Aroma:
- Bold hop character in the nose. I would say it is primarily pine with a citrus character. I don't really get any malt or yeast character through the hops. I would say it is as hoppy as Pliny the Elder
- Appearance:
- Light gold and fairly clear. It pours from the keg with a 1 finger head that lingers for several minutes. It leaves lacing on the glass
- Flavor:
- Very light malt and some grassy, herbal and slightly citrusy hop flavors up front. This is followed by a fairly firm bitterness which lingers into the finish. The bitterness is definitely the dominant character in the finish but there is a slight bready sweetness in there that offers some semblance of a balance to it. I think the bitterness is nice - not a harsh character
- Mouthfeel:
- Light bodied and pretty smooth drinking.
- Overall:
- This beer packs a lot of hop character into a light package. It's a pretty agressive beer with the level of bitterness here and the balance strongly towards the bitterness - I'd say it's much more like an IPA than a American Pale Ale. I think this is the beer I would have expected to get with the simple malt bill.
