Mar 3, 2016

Lickinghole Creek Citra Fresh IPA

In the past, Lickinghole Creek has touted their ability to grow and use their own ingredients or those sourced locally to the brewery. I’m not sure, however, that’s the case with Citra Fresh IPA (6% ABV and 60 IBU) IPA that uses almost a pound and half of the trendy Citra hop variety per barrel. And it’s apparent that the hops were added late in the brewing process as the aroma on this beer is outstanding — the flavor doesn’t quite follow suit.

While tropical fruits abound within the aroma, the flavor sees a more balanced characteristic. Sure the beer still has a fairly solid bitterness, but there’s more bready malt and caramel that comes out to help keep things on the tame site. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but for those of you looking for a pungent hop flavor may be disappointed.

Personally, I enjoyed the more balanced approach presented within Critra Fresh, but I would have loved more of that tropical fruit trait to shine through a bit more. That said, this IPA is still a solid offering.