Hermitage Citra IPA

[Kealia]

I don't normally drink a bomber of an IPA myself, and even rarer on a work night, but last night I splurged.

Hermitage is a local San Jose, CA brewery that only distributes locally AFAIK. I've been to the taproom and love the single hop series so when I saw this I had to grab it.

It's 7% and is medium to heavy on the mouthfeel. You don't taste the alcohol, but it is definitely a rich beer in the sense that the malts are not shy.
The aroma is obviously all Citra and the taste is rich, malty, almost sweet up front and then a ton of hop flavor. Bittering is far from over the top and I know it is cliche, but I will say it is just enough to balance the malt sweetness.
If I had to guess, I'd say a high mash temp gives this thing lots of body.
The finish is rich, too.

It's similar to beers like Pliny, or Ghost (from good ole Nawlins). Heavy, complex, rich and juat damn good. Yeah, think Pliny with Citra instead of Simcoe.

Yum. Loved it.

[Beer-lord]

Looks and sounds delightful. What's not to like about this one?

[RedBEERd]

I take back everything I said nice about you...........and drinking a whole bomber by yourself? just pure selfishness............

[Kealia]

*burp*

[RedBEERd]

well that certainly changes things....now I have to talk nice about you again.

[Kealia]

4 days later and I am still burping Citra, I swear.


If you're interested in a bottle I will see if I can get my hands on more.

[RedBEERd]

That's pretty funny...thx for the offer but I've got quite a bit stocked up with some Ghost, Enjoy By (had one today, still a great beer), Palate wrecker, some Mystery Romp and 4 others that Beerlord so KINDLY donated to me today........and that's not counting a few homebrews lying around.
You just drink it and burp all the way home.

[Kealia]

Just saw this article posted elsewhere. Somebody did a blind taste test of 116 IPAs and this Hermitage Citra ranked 18!



This article/ranking could also turn into a to-do list for some here. I'm not naming names.....

[Beer-lord]

I already hate my job and just found my next one. How'd you like to tell someone who asks you what you do for a living and tell them, "I blind test IPA's"? I'm in.

[BlackDuck]

A friend of mine were looking at that and talking about how it looks like a mission to complete. I was floored at the number one pick. I've had that and it's awesome. Quite proud that a local beer won.

[Kealia]

It's an interesting list for sure. For example, I've only had Firestone's Union Jack once but didn't really care for it. It was on tap so maybe it wasn't the best batch. I tend to love their stuff so maybe I need to go back and try it again. Nice to see Lagunitas IPA (one of the early ones) still hanging tight, too.

Everybody's tastes are subjective but I was somewhat shocked to see Stone's Delicious IPA rank so high. Maybe it's the new factor of those lemondrop hops, but that one just didn't suit my taste at all and likely wouldn't have made it very far.

To each their own!

[Beer-lord]

A few things stand out to me. Modus Hoperandi---I've only had it a few times and each time I remember saying "Wow". Abita Wrought Iron?????? It's ok but I'm surprised. I think their Jackamo which isn't in the top 50 is much better.
And I think Stone Delicious is in there because it is different. Those hops are in very many IPA's yet sold nationally and it is pretty different in my judgement.