bridgeport hop czar with citra
Sometimes beer shows up on my doorstep.
I am not one to let it sit there.
This beer arrived from BridgePort, which claims to be Oregon’s oldest brewery. And in fact it may be Oregon’s oldest modern brewery that is still in operation today.
It is the 4th largest producer of beer in Oregon and within the top 50 in the U.S.
BridgePort beer does not come to Minnesota, so I was very grateful for the shipment!
Founded in 1984 by local wine producers Richard and Nancy Ponzi, the operation started out as the Columbia River Brewery and was only producing about 600 barrels annually. BridgePort was acquired by The Gambrinus Company ten years later, in 1995, the company that also owns Shiner. By 2001 BridgePort had expaneded to an annual capacity of 100,000 barrels.
The Hop Czar IPA series showcases dry-hopped IPAs, and this beer is the first in the series. In this first edition, Citra hops are showcased.
The beer pours a cloudy orange-amber. It is a brilliant color! The fine head gives way to larger bubbles. The aroma is citrus and hoppy-floral notes. The taste is immediately bitter with enjoyable earthiness. The bitterness is clean with little involvement of phenols or other flavors. On one hand it is a bit monotone with nothing outstanding. On the other hand it showcases serious Citra hops. The British malt bill doesn’t really sing through the hops.
“The first in the series, the Citra Dry-Hopped IPA adds a decidedly American twist to a British original. The complexity of the English malt is complemented by aggressive dry-hopping with Oregon’s Willamette Valley Citra hops, for this transatlantic, full-bodied IPA with an intensely aromatic character.” -BridgePort