Style: Fruited Sour
ABV: 5.2%
Nick’s Take
Happy Friday and welcome to our latest edition of the “New Releases” series! Joe and I decided it was about time we bring Hopfly Brewing Company into the picture. I hope that those of you reading this have had the pleasure of drinking some of the beers from Hopfly. They brew the whole gamut of beers and regularly produce new IPAs and sours to their draft and can selections. They recently released their “Quad Citrus” fruited sour, so Joe and I each brought a pack of cans home with the expectation of giving this our review.
For my tasting, I decided to try something different. I have been having a little trouble lately with detecting aromas in the beers Joe and I review, so I thought my glassware might be lacking. I used a small tulip tasting glass so that I could hopefully get a better experience and conduct a more accurate tasting. I recommend giving this a try, as the smaller mouth of the glass and rounded shape can contribute to the smell. Giving this fruited sour a good pour into my glass, I watched the head of microbubbles form, which came to rest atop a cloudy, yellow-gold body. The foam didn’t last as it dissipated into just a thin white haze. However, before all the bubbles disappeared, I took a few deep inhales and received very strong aromas of lemon and lime juices. A very pungent and sharp smell of tartness was already giving me the sensation of puckering without a tasting a single drop, so I wasn’t surprised that I did pucker after taking a sip. As the beer hit the tip of my tongue, the sourness of those lemons and limes got to work. Besides the obvious tartness you experience, it has a pleasantly crisp mouthfeel, and sticks around as a little bit of acidic mouthcoating. I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but lemon and lime juices were the predominant flavors for me in this fruited sour. As the name suggests, there are four citrus fruits used in the brewing: lime, lemon, orange, and tangerine. However, I was not getting the orange fruits in my tasting; instead, I realized I was finding some end notes that reminded me of grapefruit. I discussed with Joe, and we postulated that this could be an effect of the lemon/lime and orange combination – or, my taste receptors are just a little bit crazy. One of the things I love about beer is how a brew can taste different from one person to the next.
While this beer has a great sour aroma, a pleasant, exciting mouthfeel, and a tart, juicy flavor profile, I would say it’s not a very sessionable beer. Personally, I wouldn’t go beyond one pint at a time just due to the elevated sourness and acidity, but I will certainly drink this beer again because it really was quite refreshing and delicious. For all you sour aficionados, get on over to Hopfly or your local bottle shop/tap room to give this fruited sour a try!
Appearance: Hazy yellow-gold color, decent head of microbubbles when poured but dissipates quickly. (4.5/5)
Aroma: Fresh lemon and lime juices that produce a pungent, exciting sour aroma. (5/5)
Mouthfeel: Tartness that makes you pucker and the acidity creates some mouthcoat, but also has an enjoyable brightness/crispness to it. (4.5/5)
Taste: Real authenticity to the citrus fruit flavors of lemon and lime and lingering notes of grapefruit for me. (4.5/5)
Drinkability: Not a particularly sessionable beer due to acidity and sourness, but an enjoyable pint! (3.5/5)
Total: 22/25
Joe’s Take
Today’s East Carolina new release takes us to Rocky Mount, NC. We ventured out last weekend a couple days after they had released “Quad Citrus,” their new fruited sour. The drive was quick, and we were full of anticipation. Having had Hopfly beers several times in our home town of Greenville, we were excited to get out to the brewery and check out what they had to offer. We enjoyed several of their on-tap selections, and brought quite a few 4-packs of cans home. Among those was “Quad Citrus” and we decided this would be a great candidate for our upcoming new release post.
I enjoyed this beer on a cool, sunny fall evening. I poured the beer into a tulip glass and it’s appearance immediately reminded me of citrus juice. Not quite orange in color, it looked more like pineapple juice with a yellow-orange hue. It had a white head that foamed up nicely and faded quickly, leaving little lace on the glass. I would have liked the head to hang around a bit longer to help the aromas release because this beer smelled great. Bright citrus tones were evident and each sniff made me want to dive right into the tasting. There was little to no hop aroma and no evident malt tones either. This beer was juicy. When I finally gave in and took a sip, I experienced a dry acidic mouthfeel that left my mouth and teeth feeling coated. This was similar to the feeling I used to get after eating too many Sour Patch Kids candies. I’m guessing this is from the likely high citric acid content with all the citrus fruits in the beer. The taste of this beer is a citrus explosion, akin to tart lemonade or limeade with orange and tangerine notes popping through. Did I mention this beer was juicy? “Quad Citrus” is aptly named as you can clearly taste all four citrus fruits adorned on the label. The retronasal smells that come through are sweet and you guessed it, citrusy. This beer was very refreshing and highly enjoyable, but with the high acidity and strong citrus flavors I don’t think I could crush several in a row. That being said, I’ll definitely be reaching for this beer again on a hot afternoon.
Appearance: Yellow-orange, pineapple juice appearance, opaque, fleeting white head (4/5)
Aroma: Citrus, almost like a margarita, lemon-lime, thirst-inducing smell (4.5/5)
Mouthfeel: Dry, acidic, carbonated, mouthcoating (4/5)
Taste: Citrus, citrus, citrus, refreshing, juicy, a tart lemon-limeade (4.5/5)
Drinkability: Refreshing, but not too crushable, acidity makes it less ideal for session drinking (3.5/5)
Total: 20.5/25
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