BeerBorg

I've been seeing a lot of craft breweries coming out with high citrus beers lately. Grapefruit IPAs and massive doses of citra hops and tangerine ales and such.

I can see how they might be popular, and certainly in the spring and summer they'd be refreshing, but it seems like there's a real glut on the market now, and frankly, for my tastes, too much citrus in a beer creates a lingering hostile bitterness in my mouth. I say "hostile" because again, sometimes a lingering bitterness is desirable in a beer, and sometimes it's actually the point of a beer. But to me, some of these beers smack of the nasty pith you get underneath the zest of a lemon, and it's not refreshing or pleasant at all.

I know that, in order to stay competitive, breweries must innovate and introduce new styles and new takes on old styles, but I'm just hoping this trend bottoms out soon. Too much shelf space is being taken up by these things.

I've been seeing lots of articles about the juicy New England IPAs. But all kinds of IPA's seem to always be popular over the last 5-10 years so I'm not sure how they rank them now.

Seasonally I do so lots of citrusy beers offered. I like citrus flavor and aroma but done with hops and not real citrus.

I don't know about trends but I've been brewing several with strong citrus taste/aromas for years. I have an orange ale in da chill box I'm drinking now. Go for it, they are refreshing during a hot day.

Beer-lord wrote:I like citrus flavor and aroma but done with hops and not real citrus.

^This^

I'm not sure I've had a citrus-infused pale ale or IPA that I like yet. In fact, some have even tasted a lot like Lysol to me because of that pith-y taste that Dave mentioned.

Seems to me that when I used a lot of Falconers Flight hops I would get a good grapefruit taste, non of the after taste from using peels. Might be worth a try for ya. IMHO

Kealia wrote:

Beer-lord wrote:I like citrus flavor and aroma but done with hops and not real citrus.

^This^

I'm not sure I've had a citrus-infused pale ale or IPA that I like yet. In fact, some have even tasted a lot like Lysol to me because of that pith-y taste that Dave mentioned.

FWIW, I've had New Belgium Citradelic and didn't think it was off putting like that, but it wasn't anything super awesome either. It was easy to drink.

They were sampling some lemon infused sour at my local grocery store this weekend, and all I can say about that is *bleaaaaahhhhhh*. There is no need to pump a sour full of lemon. It was disgusting unless you just think everything needs to be ore extreme and somehow enjoy sour pith overload.

I like the Citradelic IPA, actually. But I've avoided the grapefruit IPAs and the tangerine IPAs, and the like, because of that nasty bitterness I alluded to.

As far as the citrus aspect being imparted by the hops and not actual fruit, I'm the opposite, I guess. One of my favorite summer beer recipes is my Sunbonnet Lemon Wheat, in which I add actual fresh lemon zest after primary fermentation. It gives a real zippy sparkle of lemon to what would probably be a fairly undistinguished wheat beer.

Remember if you're drinking the beer you like, you did it right.

FedoraDave wrote:just hoping this trend bottoms out soon. Too much shelf space is being taken up by these things.

I will disagree with your opinion on this. Just because you don't like them, doesn't mean others don't. I like these styles of beers. I enjoy the mix of citrus from the fruit married up with citrus style hops. For me, it's a great combination, so I hope they continue to hit the shelves.