Sunday, December 11, 2011

Beer Review - La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado

We've hit a huge lull in brewing beer together lately.  Such is life.  Meg and I will be tasting Merry Krampus early this week to determine how the beer is aging.  Dan and I have discussed plans for our next beer - an IPA, which may or may not be brewed next week.

In the meantime, I've been buying up some interesting beers and I want to share my thoughts.  Although I usually drink my delicious beers and forget to write tasting notes, I happen to be drinking a beer and watching an unwatchable Bears-Broncos football game.

I decided to open up the Stone, Bruery, Elysian collaboration La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado (The Heavenly Pumpkin of Citracado) that's been sitting in my beer fridge for a couple of weeks.  The bottle bills it as an "ale brewed with pumpkin, yams, toasted fenugreek, lemon verbena & birch bark".  Ok then. 

Appearance: Dark amber color that looks black when it's not held up to the light.  My delicious-looking pour included a thick, beige head that dissipated after a few minutes.

Aroma:  There's an overwhelming aroma of spicy pine needles with citrus undertones.  Pumpkin? Nope.  Yams?  Again, no.

Taste:  Lemon zest with a spicy hop presence hits me right away.  The spice follows through on the aftertaste and mixes with a woodsy feel.

Mouthfeel:  I could use a bit more carbonation in this one.  It might allow some of the other flavors to come through more.  The sweetness of this beer become cloying as it warms.  I like that the hop spice lingers but it doesn't quite balance out.

Overall:  This is not a pumpkin beer in any sense that I've ever seen or tasted.  I do wish that the yams and pumpkin would shine more in this one instead of the other spices.  I enjoy analyzing it more than I enjoy drinking it.  That can't be good, can it?  I wouldn't buy this one again.  C-

Beer Advocate has it at a B with 96 reviews.  One reviewer called the taste "lime mixed with a pine tree" and I tend to agree with that. Brewbound.com liked it quite a bit, saying they were "wowed" by the first sip.  Dailybeerreview.com had the same experience as I did - too many flavors that don't mix well.  This beer is one of those that are divisive, some think it's great, others hate it.

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