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Monday, September 30, 2024

Pale Ale with Citra and Mosaic - Tasting Notes

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. 

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