SOUTH SOUND PREFUNK WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13 2017: Iron Horse Hopping Hands and David Gilmore PREFUNK: Independent craft breweries in the United States often contribute to military causes. Some of the breweries have taken their support one step further with beneficial campaigns, such as Iron Horse Brewery in Ellensburg, Washington. Iron Horse Brewery launched the Hopping Hands Project in May; a four-month, single hop IPA release with proceeds benefitting the Veterans Conservation Corps, a department of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. The VCC provides opportunities for veterans to connect with nature in their own way while restoring Washington’s natural
Fresh Hops Oktoberfest Blues Fresh-hopped beer is an ephemeral thing, arriving only during hops harvest season, with its piney, citrusy taste and delicate fizz. Fresh hop festivals abound in the Northwest, but Peaks and Pints’ The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest is the only month-long fresh hop celebration paired with Oktoberfest beers. We’re pouring bright, hop-hazy fresh-hop beers, just hours from field to kettle and mere days from the fermenter to your glass AND drink to your health, clean, hearty Oktoberfest-style lagers from Germany and nearby. We’ll wager our pretzel bread sticks you’ll drink both. Since Sept. 12 marks the death
L.A. touring band Brain Dead will rock Jazzbones tonight. TACOMA PREFUNK TUESDAY, SEPT. 12 2017: Fat Head’s Head Hunter and Tightwad Tuesday PREFUNK: Fat Head’s, which started out as a restaurant in Pittsburgh in 1992, opened a production facility in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, in 2009. In November 2014, Fat Head’s entered Portland’s Pearl District with Mike Hunsaker running the brewery operation. The brewery has received national acclaim for its brews, especially its Head Hunter IPA, which has grabbed nine medals at major craft beer competitions around the world. Head Hunter is golden in color, with a
Today is National Chocolate Milkshake Day. The first time the term “milkshake” was used in print was in 1885. This milkshake was a concoction of cream, eggs and whiskey, which was often served with other alcoholic tonics such as lemonades and soda waters. If the customer enjoyed the milkshake, he shook hands with the bartender. If not, the bartender didn’t get a tip. James and William Horlick invented malted milk powder in 1897, but it was Ivar Coulson, a soda jerk for a Walgreen’s drug store, who first added it to milkshakes in 1922. This created the malted milkshake or just
TACOMA PREFUNK MONDAY, SEPT. 11 2017: Atwood No Whey Bro and Moby-Grapefruit PREFUNK: Atwood Ales’ No Whey, Bro is a blonde ale fermented with Lactobacillus bacteria cultured from yogurt. Dry hops (Citra, Ekuanot and Mosaic) add tropical and citrus fruit to the tangy aroma. No Whey, Bro’s flavors and acidity are all balanced components of what is the lemonade of craft beer — a light, refreshing, easy drinking, sour blonde ale. No Whey, Bro is pouring from Peaks and Pints’ Western red cedar tap log. Way. 5 P.M. RANDALL MONDAY: Everyone is familiar with the classic Herman Melville novel, Moby-Dick,
The house music faded away, and the craft beer drinking begins. It is loud, rattling. Screaming. The people who enjoy Craft Beer Crosscut 9.11.17: A Flight of Chaos, truly experiencing it, appear very different than those too fearful to invest in it. Some people laugh nervously, some look away anxiously, some stare at our stump crosscut beer flight board with jaws dropped. But others leaned right into it. Some sway with their eyes closed almost completely unaware of the other humans in Peaks and Pints’ bottle shop, taproom and restaurant in Tacoma’s Proctor District. Today’s beer flight was born from
You float in a sun-warmed, peanut-shaped tile pool, watching the breeze flip the palm fronds against a turquoise Southern California sky, sipping a midday India Pale Ale. Rippling reflections of the afternoon sun on the water cast themselves against the six-foot-tall prickly pear, oak-planked door and the adobe-arched wall above it. Chimes sound; doves coo. Fantastic landscape scenes full of cliffs, ocean vistas, coves, rolling hills and deep canyons comes to life from San Diego, just north of the Mexican border, cross the bay to the resort city Coronado, up the coast to Los Angeles, home to Hollywood studios, fine
Spocktoberfest The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Peaks and Pints. Its one-month mission: to explore fresh hop craft beers, to seek out Oktoberfest-style beers, to boldly go where no mountain lodge motif bottle shop has gone before. Fresh-hopped beer is an ephemeral thing, arriving only during hops harvest season, with its piney, citrusy taste and delicate fizz. Fresh hop festivals abound in the Northwest, but Peaks and Pints’ The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest is the only month-long fresh hop celebration paired with Oktoberfest beers. We’re pouring bright, hop-hazy fresh-hop beers, just
Friday, Sept. 8, 2017, Peaks and Pints presents a craft beer flight of Washington state’s oldest breweries that we call Craft Beer Crosscut 9.8.17: A Flight of Washington State’s Oldest Breweries. Catchy name, huh? The following is how the flight was formed. 4,300 BC — Oldest-known written recipe — a formula for beer — inscribed in clay cuneiform tablet. The Babylonians are producing beer in large quantities with around 20 varieties, including Suck It Sumerian Stout. 500-1000 AD — The first half of the Middle Ages, brewing begins in European monasteries and convents; hops added to process. Hello Bring Out
In late 2010, Corvallis homebrewers Aaron Sarnoff-Wood and Lee Larsen filled a gap in the college town’s drinking scene — cider. The duo opened 2 Towns Ciderhouse crafting unique ciders brewed with the traditional English and French-style’s tannic apples, Oregon grown, of course. Named after the cities of Corvallis and Eugene (Larsen’s a Beaver; Sarnoff-Wood a Duck), 2 Towns believes “… that the long history of cidermaking demands respect and deserves to be done right,” states the cidery’s motto. “Starting with the highest quality whole ingredients from local farms, we take no shortcuts in crafting our ciders. We never add
DJ Fir$t Lady spins at The Brotherhood Lounge tonight. SOUTH SOUND PREFUNK THURSDAY, SEPT. 7 2017: Green Drinks and DJ Fir$t Lady PREFUNK: Why drink alone when you can get your drink on with cool cats who care about environmental issues? On the first Thursday of each month, Green Drinks invites Tacoma and Pierce County residents to do just that — hang out and chat with other green-minded individuals over drinks and snacks. At 6 p.m. Peaks and Pints hosts the Green Drinks, er, drinkers with special guest ForeverGreen Trails, a coalition of Pierce County trail
Wingman Brewers S’mores Porter will be released on draft and in cans at 6 p.m. in Peaks and Pints bottle shop in Tacoma’s Proctor District. Artwork by Sam Dollar TACOMA PREFUNK WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6 2017: Wingman S’mores Porter and Cashing In Karma PREFUNK: The campfire has been responsibly extinguished. The sleeping bags rolled up. And the final hugs have been exchanged with promises to stay in touch. Wingman Brewers and Peaks and Pints, a brewery and bottle shop from Tacoma, respectively, will release their second collaboration craft beer at 6 p.m. inside Peaks and Pint’s lodge
Ninkasi Brewing Co. has a concession stand inside the Tacoma Dome. MORNING FOAM FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6 2017: A seven-taster flight of craft beer news, from the fluffy head all the way to the Hyperloop Pod. … Ninkasi signed a three-year contract with the city of Tacoma for the concession stand at the Tacoma Dome. The Eugene, Oregon brewery opened the first branded craft-beer concession stand at the Tacoma Dome Aug. 1. Ninkasi’s concession stand is part of a broader $21-million renovation of the 34-year-old Tacoma Dome. Expect to drink Total Domination IPA, Pacific Rain Pale
Remember when you woke up to snores from “The Room” at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. Psychedelic clothing draped the beanbags. Starving, and not waiting to awake your parents, you tiptoed in footie pajamas toward the cereal cabinet for greatness in a box, the all-sugar-little-added-value, strangely colored food group known as breakfast food. Oh, joy! You poured Count Chocula into a Slurpee cup as to not alert of your early feeding. Ok, maybe that was just Peaks and Pints. Oh, but the Count Chocula and Franken Berry. … General Mills hit it out of the park with those monster-themed breakfast
The party began in October 1810, when a great horse race was organized to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Everyone had so much fun that it was held again, and eventually became an annual event, dubbed “Oktoberfest” in 1872. It has since evolved into a 16-day Munich blowout in late September and early October. Oh, to be in that great mass of humanity, dancing to the throbbing polka beats, scarfing down sausage, kraut, and strudel, and most of all, imbibing from the holy grail … er, stein. … You see before refrigeration, fermentation
In celebration of what would have been rock legend Freddie Mercury’s 71st birthday, Peaks and Pints’ turns over our daily fresh hop/Oktoberfest hug to Mr. Mercury. Dude is a rock legend. He was a masterful pianist and an incredibly gifted vocalist. Even though Queen’s performed without him over the years, it’s always been as Queen + ______. Today, it’s Queen + Fresh Hops and Oktoberfests. That’s right. Peaks and Pints continues The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest, our month-long, fresh hop celebration paired with Oktoberfest beers. We’re pouring bright, hop-hazy fresh-hop beers, just hours from field to kettle and mere days
All day, US of A … with fresh hops and Oktoberfest. And so, today, summer unofficially ends the way it unofficially began: you, drinking craft beer and cider, eating sandwiches and avoiding work. It’s been a long, hot summer, but we made it. Relax: it’s the American way. Peaks and Pints will be open for business today, and we continue The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest, our month-long, fresh hop celebration paired with Oktoberfest beers. We’re pouring bright, hop-hazy fresh-hop beers, just hours from field to kettle and mere days from the fermenter to your glass AND drink to your health,
Traditionally, Labor Day signifies the end of the summer and the beginning of fall (more or less). Or, at least, that’s what it’s supposed to be everywhere else but in Washington state. We’re sort of the exception to the rule this year, considering that our hot-as-hell summer continues for the next few days. Celebrated the first Monday of every September, Labor Day honors America’s workers and their many contributions to our nation’s strength, prosperity and well-being. That said, it’s also a great time for friends, family, cookouts and BEER. Peaks and Pints is offering a beer flight of a few
Chatter Vulture hiking the Indian Bar Trail at Mount Rainier A little motivation, encouragement or camaraderie goes a long way when it comes to getting out and finding adventure. Them Vultures, a group of hiking buddies, are motivated by beer. OK, that’s not fair. The gentlemen are avid hikers who happen to wear Peaks and Pints shirts and drink beer once they loosen the laces at the predetermined peak. Peaks and Pints receives after-action reports from Them Vultures with photographs of trail scenery and, of course, a Peaks and Pints shirt-wearing shot. Chatter Vulture of Them
The Good, The Fresh and The Oktoberfest Fresh-hopped beer is an ephemeral thing, arriving only during hops harvest season, with its piney, citrusy taste and delicate fizz. Fresh hop festivals abound in the Northwest, but Peaks and Pints’ The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest is the only month-long fresh hop celebration paired with Oktoberfest beers. We’re pouring bright, hop-hazy fresh-hop beers, just hours from field to kettle and mere days from the fermenter to your glass AND drink to your health, clean, hearty Oktoberfest-style lagers from Germany and nearby. We’ll wager our pretzel bread sticks you’ll drink both. Since Sept. 3
The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest — Thirty-one days of fresh hops and Oktoberfest beers Peaks and Pints is throwing a month-long autumn beer party marrying up two popular seasonal beers — fresh hops and Oktoberfest. We’re calling it The Hunt For Fresh Hoptoberfest, tapping fresh hop and Oktoberfest beers daily through Sept. 31. You’ll find bright, hop-hazy fresh-hop beers, just hours from field to kettle and mere days from the fermenter to your glass AND drink to your health with clean, hearty Oktoberfest-style lagers from Germany and nearby. We’ll wager our pretzel bread sticks you’ll drink both. You see, fall
In 2009, Hopsteiner Breeding Program released Delta (Hopsteiner 04188), a cross of two well-known varieties: the earthy English Fuggles and floral Cascade — the quintessential flavor of West Coast beers — which is itself a blend of Fuggles and the Russian hop Serebrianker. Originally bred as a Willamette replacement, Delta’s superior yield and improved disease tolerance give it an edge. Spicy and earthy with slight citrus aromas, Delta has been labeled a “Super Willamette.” It’s a great variety substitute for Willamette or Fuggle. Fuggle is usually a pretty subtle hop, but Delta has a stronger, more assertive character — an
According to most beer historians, growers in the Hallertau region of Bavaria in southern Germany first cultivated hops. Going back to at least the 11th century, hops were added to beer not only to preserve it, but also enhance its flavor. The initial, venerable Continental European hops are German Hallertauer Mittelfrueh, Spalter, and Tettnanger, and the Czech Saaz from the Žatec region of Bohemia, which in the 1980s the United States tagged as “Noble hops.” What ties these four varieties together is their powerful terroir, which is their centuries-old history of having been grown in and having adapted to their
TACOMA PREFUNK WEDNESDAY, AUG. 30 2017: Raven De Brett and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band PREFUNK: Bière de Garde, at least by today’s definition, is a warm fermented strong pale ale — sometimes blonde, sometimes amber, and has much in common with Belgium ales. Black Raven Brewing’s Raven De Brett falls into this style, housed a six-month secondary fermentation with the “wild” yeast strain Brettanomyces lambicus, then dry hopped in order to meld bright fresh hop aroma and accent with aged wild yeast character. On the nose, expect crisp fresh melon and dark lemon, dry earthy oaky notes with
TACOMA PREFUNK TUESDAY, AUG. 29 2017: Northish Forge Your Own Chains IPA and the Promised Land PREFUNK: “Inspired by Old World styles and New World techniques Tacoma-based brewing project Northish Beer Co. has officially released its first beer, Forge Your Own Chains IPA. “For our debut beer we wanted to brew something we would love to drink, day-in and day-out,” states the Forge Your Own Chains IPA release. “Taking inspiration from many different takes on the style, the result is stronger than any of its individual links. Forge Your Own Chains pours a hazy yet deep orange with bright aromas
According to the Brewer’s Association, pale ales are the second most popular style of craft beer, trailing only IPAs. Pale ales originated in the UK in the late 1700s and were made famous by the Bass Brewery of Burton-upon-Trent, England. Sierra Nevada then “Americanized” the style in 1980 when they released their hoppier version of the pale ale featuring Cascade hops, which became the signature hop for the American version of style. English pale ales often have less assertive hoppiness that comes off more herbal and grassy. The Belgian pale ale was brewed in one form or another all the way
Wingman Brewers S’mores Porter can label featuring collaborators Peaks and Pints ownership camping with the Wingman staff. Campers are, from left, Ron Swarner, Robby Peterson, Ken Thoburn, Peter Brown, Justin Peterson and Daniel Heath. Artwork by Sam Dollar What happens when the owners of Wingman Brewers and Peaks and Pints gather around a campfire to toast their latest collaboration batch of Peaks and Pints Perfect Proctor Porter? Yes, a mean game of Kick The Can, but also a recipe development for their new collaboration, S’mores Porter. Childhood memories in an adult beverage, indeed: Wingman Brewers and
Score: A Film Music Documentary screens at The Grand Cinema twice today. TACOMA PREFUNK MONDAY, AUG. 28 2017: Holy Mountain Transfiguration and Score Film Music Documentary PREFUNK: Today’s Prefunk includes a documentary examining the magic of film music. Peaks and Pints has Holy Mountain’s Transfiguration (6.1% ABV) flowing from our Western red cedar tap log. Someone should film a documentary on this clean, delicious saison brewed with pilsner malt and Vienna, then hopped in the kettle with Motueka and Waimea. Transfiguration was fermented in stainless and then dry-hopped with Waimea. It’s amazing. 2:20 AND 7 P.M.
Peaks and Pints thinks “drinkability” is a perfectly decent, useful word. Yes, drinkability is one of those words that some people dislike, along with “refreshing,” “smooth” and “creamy.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with aiming to brew high quality and drinkable beer. There are many craft breweries that seek to create balanced, drinkable beers that aren’t hop bombs. Our flight today is all about complex and delicious, easy-drinking American craft beers. Enjoy Craft beer Crosscut 8.28.17: A Fight of Drinkability. Evil Twin Sour Bikini 3% ABV Throw on a bikini top, drop the beads around your neck and toss back Evil Twin’s
TACOMA PREFUNK SUNDAY, AUG. 27 2017: Destiny City Film Festival and Bric-A-Brac Bingo PREFUNK: Now in its fourth year, the Destiny City Film Festival has become a staple of summer in Tacoma. Every August at the Blue Mouse Theatre, the beloved film festival brings eye-opening, thought-provoking cinema to Tacoma’s Proctor District, including today’s final screening, which include a bunch of shorts from Washington state filmmakers, The Blood Is At The Doorstep about a family investigating the death of their son who was shot 14 times and killed by police in Milwaukee, and A Bad Idea Gone Wrong featuring two would-be
The Destiny City Film Festival is a homegrown, true-Tacoma community event, inspired by our city’s nickname — The City of Destiny — and is built to showcase the best independent films from the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Curated by former Tacoma Film Festival director Emily Alm, the fourth version of this film fest ends today with a closing party at 6 p.m. inside Peaks and Pints. In celebration of the film festival and the City of Destiny — Tacoma, Washington — Peaks and Pints presents a flight of Tacoma breweries that we call Craft Beer Crosscut 8.27.17: A City of
Mr. Blackwatch will be the first band to perform at the Hilltop Street Fair today. TACOMA PREFUNK SATURDAY, AUG. 25 2017: Founders Green Zebra Gose and a screenwriting panel PREFUNK: Founders Brewing Co.’s award-winning stouts and IPAs watched in horror as the Grand Rapids, Michigan brewery brewed a watermelon gose. (Insert record scratch.) It took a year’s worth of test batches, but Founders Green Zebra is a thing — a tasty thing. There’s sweet, juicy watermelon flavor up front — real watermelon, not Jolly Rancher watermelon — and a tart, slightly salty finish. At 4.6% ABV
Normally condemned to rot in a mediocre glass bowl, the fruit salad has finally been given the respectable and stylish home it deserves — Peaks and Pints’ craft beer flight. That’s right, this is not your mama’s fruit salad. It’s more like a fruit salad on … hops. Once considered a maligned novelty, fruit is now one of the arenas where brewers experiment most, uh, fruitfully. According to archeologists, the Mesopotamians were brewing with fruit thousands of years ago. In 1999, Fruitheads became a type a drinker after they gobbled up gallons of Dogfish Heads’ Aprihop, a fruit beer made
TACOMA PREFUNK FRIDAY, AUG. 25 2017: The Bruery Poteria and Destiny City Film Festival PREFUNK: In 2016, The Bruery celebrated its eighth anniversary with the bourbon barrel-aged old ale Poterie. It’s freakin’ delicious with sweet, salty and umami flavors all in one. A sexy bourbon burn hits first followed by chocolate, vanilla, raisins, custard, oak, dried fruit, apricot and a little brandy. Every aspect of this beer is beautiful, from its sultry dark appearance to how the wet bourbon barrel traits perfectly mesh with sweet artisan chocolate. Peaks and Pints pours the delight from our Western red cedar tap log.
If you are like most, identifying trees is a challenge and there are really only two categories of trees that exist to you: 1) pine, like a Christmas tree; 2) not pine. Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees growing 10-260 feet tall, with the majority of species reaching 50-150 feet tall. Pines are long-lived, some shooting their first roots well before Jesus, before Rome, before most forms of civilization whatsoever. And the extra oxygen? Yes, pines filter countless pounds of CO2 though all those sun-dappled branches to make us healthier, And happier. Because of pine trees. We mean, clearly. Sadly, many
TACOMA PREFUNK THURSDAY, AUG. 24 2017: Schneider Weisse Tap X Aventinus Cuvée Barrique and the Black Ferns PREFUNK: In 2010, Han-Peter Drexler, brewmaster of the Bavarian brewery G. Schneider & Sohn, tinkered around with his finest beers in wine barrels. The result is Schneider Weisse Tap X Aventinus Cuvée Barrique (9.5%), one of the world’s best weizenbocks, aged in four different oak barrels. French Oak Chardonnay barrels provide dry fruity and fresh aromas supported by fine tannins. Then, the beer rests in American oak, which once housed German Pinot Noir, for powerful aromas of dark berries, paired with elegant roasty
It’s the end of the summer. Are you going on vacation? Everyone seems to be going on vacation this weekend. You deserve a vacation. You need a break from the daily grind. Vacation! Beer! Peaks and Pints hopes you get to go on a vacation, even if it’s just for one day, even if it’s just in your mind, you know? We’re vacationing in our mind as we write today’s craft beer flight, the one you are reading or having read to you by computer robot voice. We’re enjoying a lovely vacation can of beautiful tropical craft beer, but we’re
TACOMA PREFUNK WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23 2017: Give Blood Get Beer and The White Album PREFUNK: The Cascade Regional Blood Services hosts a blood drive program titled “Give Blood Get Beer” — a program where if you donate a pint of blood you will receive a pint of beer. Enter fast talking announcer guy: “Give Blood Get Beer is a theme for a series of Cascade Regional Services blood drives that enable local restaurants and pubs to support our community’s blood supply in a unique and fun way. Peaks and Pints, a bottle shop, taproom and restaurant in Tacoma’s Proctor District,
Dawson City: Frozen Time screens at The Grand Cinema twice today. TACOMA PREFUNK TUESDAY AUG. 22 2017: Anderson Valley Pinchy Jeek Barl and Dawson City PREFUNK: Today’s prefunk beer is not only a prefunk option for the events listed below but also a prefunk for the holidays. Anderson Valley’s Pinchy Jeek Barl Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Ale is basically Thanksgiving in a bottle, provided you usually burn the turkey and just switch to bourbon. It’s got all those sweet/spicy pumpkin notes, but kicked in the gobble by six months in a Turkey barrel. Even more alarming is
If you’re anything like Peaks and Pints and are into Caribbean voodoo then you’re a fan of Azacca, the Haitian god of agriculture. He’s a simple, gentle, hard working farmer and thus respected by the peasants. But, he’s also a hillbilly who likes to eat, drink, gossip and chase girls, which makes him an ideal character for a hop and a beer. In the world of American agriculture, Azacca — formerly known as #483 (a way lamer name) by developer American Dwarf Hop Association in Washington state — is a hop with big citrus and tropical fruit tones and excellent
An once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is happening this morning when a total solar eclipse cuts a path across North America after a 99-year hiatus. For a few minutes from Oregon through South Carolina, the sky will go dark, the stars will come out and temperatures will drop in the middle of the day for people in the path of totality. The moon won’t be seen completely covering the sun in the South Sound, but the area will get 94 percent totality during this celestial phenomenon. At Peaks and Pints, the eclipse will peak at 10:20 a.m. To celebrate this cosmic wonder, we
TACOMA PREFUNK SUNDAY, AUG. 20 2017: Left Hand Nitro Milk Stout and Wonder Woman PREFUNK: Consider nitrogen. Oxygen and carbon dioxide get all the press, but nitrogen is the most abundant gas in our planet’s atmosphere. It’s an important element in draft beer — Peaks and Pints’ draft systems utilize a blend of carbon dioxide and nitrogen to push the beer along our lines, with the percentage of each gas varying based on factors such as distance, temperature and resistance. Our nitro taps deliver beer pressurized with a higher ratio of nitrogen to CO2. Because our atmosphere is composed mostly
See how local breweries work together at the Washington Beer Collaboration Festival, featuring 27 beers created by 50 of our state’s beloved breweries. TACOMA PREFUNK SATURDAY, AUG. 19 2017: Oskar Blues Old Chub and beer festivals PREFUNK: When en Rama opened in downtown Tacoma we knew we had no intention of wearing swimsuits this summer. Yummmm, pasta. So we can drink plenty of canned Oskar Blues’ Old Chub Scottish Style Ale. It’s brewed with copious amounts of crystal and chocolate malts, and a dash of beechwood-smoked malts. The cola-colored beer features a dense, tawny head; a
Hop Breeding Company of Yakima, Washington released Citra in 2007. It wasn’t until Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. dry-hopped its Torpedo IPA two years later that the hop turned heads. Citra Brand HBC 394, as its officially known, is comprised of Hallertau Mittelfrüh, US Tettnang, Brewer’s Gold and East Kent Golding with a fairly high alpha acid and total oil contents, plus a low percentage of co-humulone for bittering. Bittering is cool and all, but Citra’s organoleptic profile and chemical composition lend themselves overwhelmingly to aromatic and flavor additions of citrus and tropical fruits such as grapefruit, mango, gooseberry, lychee, melon,
