Boombox Brewing Company / Kilter Brewing Legend of Citra – American Double / Imperial IPA at 8% ABV (C$4.45 at Collective, 473 ml, packaged on 19-May-2020, acquired 29-May-2020, reviewed 6-Jun-2020)
Appearance: opaque medium gold with two fingers of rocky white head, excellent retention and spotty soapy lacing. (4/5) Aroma: juicy citrus, tropical fruit, caramel, light onion / catty. (7/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (7/10) Palate: medium body, moderate carbonation, off-dry medium duration building bitter slightly astringent finish. (3/5)
Features “a TRIFORCE of Citra hops (Cryo, T45 and T90)”, but I’m sorry to say is in my opinion hardly legendary. Although I generally quite like Citra, I find that some variants and/or boils will at times give rise to a not entirely welcome green onion or catty note, and such is present here. It’s not quite a West Coast “dank” element, which would in any case be somewhat out of character if you were going for an overall NEIPA characteristic as seems to be the case here. The vegetal / urine note becomes more pronounced as it warms, and is accompanied by a slight astringency in the finish. I don’t mean to overstate the impact of any of these – it’s all relatively mild – but the overall effect is to render this slightly less impressive than many other examples of the style. (14/20)
7/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
