Citra Hops: The Most Citrusy Aroma Hop in the World of Beer

History of Citra Hops:

The success and expansion of craft breweries and the rebirth of craft beer culture has made new aroma and flavor hops big business and, it could be argued, no recent hop as taken the craft beer world quite like Citra. As the name suggests this hop’s main draw is a fruity citrus character unlike any other hop presently available.

Citra, or rather 114 as it was designated at the time, came from a cross made by hop breeders Gene Probasco and John I. Haas in 1990. Its lineage includes U.S. Tettnanger, Hallertau Mittelfruh, Brewer’s Gold, East Kent Goldings, and an unknown variety, which has been attributed to the American wild hop (ABB Vol. 34 Issue 2).

A single plant was selected by hop farmer Jason Perrault in 1992 and then expanded to a test plot of four plants in 1993. After an evaluation period of several years the plot was upped again to 21 plants in 2003 (Citra Patent).

In the course of the 12+ year breeding program, the rights to this hop was held by three different big breweries. Ultimately each passed on the hop, finding no real use for it. In 2007, the Hop Breeding Company started to shop it around to craft breweries. There was some interest and in that same year Widmer Brothers, along with Deschutes and Sierra Nevada, co-funded acreage for the new hop.

Widmer Brothers would be the first to use the hop when they created a draft-only pale ale and entered it in the 2008 World Beer Cup. The new beer garnered them a gold medal and a 5 year supply contract for the hop was quickly signed.

Meanwhile Sierra Nevada was also playing around with the hop, now known as HBC 394. After experimenting for a time Sierra Nevada released Torpedo, the first commercially bottled beer containing the new hop as part of its profile. It would later find its way into their Imperial IPA, Hoptimum (ABB Vol. 32 Issue 5).

The year 2008 also saw Jason Perrault patent his new hop under its designation HBC 394 and the newly given name Citra. The early successes and interest at Widmer Brothers and Sierra Nevada piqued other craft Breweries interest in this new unique variety.

Since its release, Citra has built a good name for itself. Deschutes uses it in their Freshly Squeezed IPA and it has been featured in several single hop pale ales and IPA’s. Today, this variety continues to be one of the most popular hops.

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How to Brew Beer With Citra Hops

This is another proprietary hop, so rhizomes are not available, but don’t despair there are plenty of other hop varieties out there that are available to the hobby gardener, including some of the substitute varieties.

When choosing a hop to grow yourself, it is best to talk to other local growers or your homebrewer shop to get some info on which varieties grow well in your area.

General Characteristics:

• Climate — Most climates are suitable
• Growth Rate — Moderate to good
• Yield — Low to Moderate
• Cones — Medium size and dense
• Maturity — Early to Mid Season
• Susceptible To — Aphids
• Resistant To — Downy mildew, powdery mildew, and verticillium wilt
• Ease of Harvest — Easy
• Storage — Fair

Sensory Description:

Citra lends a wide range of delicate fruity characteristics including wonderful aromas and flavors of lime, grapefruit, bright orange, mango, lychee, and gooseberry.

Use:

Citra is considered a flavoring/aroma hop. It does have the requisite high alpha acid and low co-humolone to make a good bittering hop, but in most cases brewers have found its bitterness too harsh.

Can Substitute With/For These Hops:

Citra is a new hop and there are no other hops yet that come close enough to its characteristics to be called a “good” substitute. That being said Citra is often used in conjunction with the two varieties listed below, because of somewhat similar fruitiness, but they are imperfect at best. Each hop variety is unique in some way, so do not expect the exact same beer you’d get using Citra hops.

Obviously, this goes the other direction too, using Citra as a sub for one of the below listed hops.

• Simcoe
• Mosaic

Common Beer Styles Using U.S. Citra Hops:

The following list of beer styles commonly use Citra hops to help them achieve the flavor and aromas that make each of them unique.

• American Pale Ale
• American IPA
• Double IPA
• Amber Ale

Commercial Examples:

Below is a list of beers that showcase Citra hops. I would recommend sampling as many of these as you can find. Chalk it up to research because the more you try the better you’ll: know this hops unique flavor and aroma characteristics, be able to pick it out in other beers, and know what to expect from it in your own brewing endeavors.

• Torepedo from Sierra Nevada Brewing — Uses Citra, Crystal, and Magnum
• PseudoSue from Toppling Goliath Brewing Company — Uses Citra Only
• Freshly Squeezed IPA from Deschutes Brewing Company — Fresh Harvest Citra, Mosaic, and Nugget
• Citra from Kern Brewing Company — Uses Citra Only
• Zombie Dust from Three Floyds Brewing Company — Uses Citra Only
• Harvest Ales from Upland Brewing Company — Fresh Harvest Citra Hops only
• Cowiche Canyon from Fremont Brewing Company — Uses fresh Citra and Simcoe hops
• Citra Session from Green Flash Brewing Company — Uses Citra Hops only
• Headwaters Pale Ale from Victory Brewing Company — Uses Citra and Simcoe
• Counter Culture Ale from Flying Dog Brewing Company — Uses Citra Hops Only
• Citra from Hermitage Brewing Company — Uses Citra Hops Only
• Citra Mantra IPL from Otter Creek Brewing Company — Uses Citra Hops Only

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