Blown away by the variety’s powerful citrus and tropical fruit aromas and flavours, John’s initial idea was to brew a strong, single-hop Citra IPA. However, because of the limited quantity of hops available, he choose to brew a 4.2% beer instead, to make them go further. The legend that is Oakham Ales Citra was born. T: light-bodied but feeling quite a mouthful at the same time, due to the quality English pale malts applied I suspect, supporting clean & focused flavours of Citra hops (quite like all the aroma elements identified on the nose, albeit less assertively), followed by lightly chewy, tannic and moderate hop bitterness as well as a decent dose of acidity to linger in the long, flowery & lychee-ish fragrant finish. Taste is decent enough. Clean malt basis doesn't have that slight funk to it here, and it provides a platform for the hops to do their business. Here they strike out a bit more fully and cleanly, providing citrus-pith and -skin and a clean but robust bitterness. Finish is fairly clean, with a slight undertone of flour. Feel is fairly light but clean and smooth. Citra is now Oakham’s No.1 brand and the driving force behind the brewery’s success in recent years! Well of course that followed on in 2011 when the supply of Citra hops increased and Oakham Green Devil IPA made its first appearance.

That’s around twice the quantity of hops used in Citra – itself very generously hopped for its ABV! . From that first brew on 20 November 2009, via bi-monthly brews in 2010 and elevation to the Oakham permanent line-up in 2011, Oakham Citra has grown and grown and almost 1.7 million pints plus just under 1.7 million 500ml bottles are now brewed every year. Our multiple awards for Citra and Green Devil IPA inspired us to write something more about our love for Citra hops and the story behind it. seymour wrote:I haven't tasted it, but it sure sounds like they simply brewed a bigger version of this: The first batch of Citra was brewed on 20th November, 2009, the day after the airmail hops landed. The ground-breaking beer received such a positive reaction that it was brewed every other month in 2010 before joining the Oakham core line-up in 2011.

Questions & Answers

Look: Pale, straw yellow with a good fingers-width of off-white, fairly bubbly head. Good retention with some lacing left behind. Not much visible carbonation left after initial pour. The original recipe and brewing process have changed very little since 2009. John was already using a significantly heavier weight of hops than many craft brewers of hop-forward beers use today, meaning that the beer has been more than a match for the changing tastes of consumers. Citra was named champion golden beer of Great Britain by CAMRA at the Great British Beer Festival in both 2014 and 2019.

Pours a very hazy holden hue, with a foamy, but not very persistent head of white. Lacing forms in fine patterns, however. Carbonation is coarse when pouring, but settling into a fine powder when the glass is tilted. Body is light. Looks decent. John Bryan, our Brewing Director, is well known for his quirky ideas, his innovative approach and his passion for quality. S: very much like the same brewery’s regular beer, Citra, in that the fruitiness has accentuated so well and smells fresh on the nose, with gooseberry cordial, juicy lychee flesh, pears, and honey-ish sweet but light-bodied pale malts coming in a harmony. If anything, the sweetness comes slightly too sharp on the balance.

Taste: There's a slight bit of maltiness in the taste but the Citra favours cut through it like a very sharp thing indeed. If anything, the hop flavours are even more well-defined, with some sharper, passion-fruit like flavours mixing it up with the more usual citrus and grapefruit. Nicely dry with a lingering bitterness, and fairly well hop-forward as you'd expect. Each case of Oakham Citra Pale Ale contains 12 x 500ml bottles of 4.6% beer. Oakham Ales ensures that your beer can be shipped on a Next Day Delivery basis, so you can start enjoying this award-winning beer as soon as possible. Additional Attributes Blown away by the variety’s powerful citrus and tropical fruit aromas and flavours, John’s initial idea was to brew a strong, single hop IPA with Citra. Very much the type of beer that this brewing legend himself prefers to drink. The Citra Pale Ale is a light, refreshing beer that is gold in colour. It boasts a unique blend of grapefruit, lychee and gooseberry aromas that lead to a dry, bitter finish. This distinctive taste profile earned it the Gold Medal at the Great British Beer Festival 2014, a testament to its exceptional quality. Case Sizes and Delivery John’s annual visits to the US hop fields mean that he has unrivalled relationships with the key hop growers and he still personally selects the hops that go into our beers – quite a task when you consider that we now use almost 25 tonnes of Citra hops alone every year!

It’s not just the quantity of hops we use though. The quality of our ingredients is also vital as is the Oakham commitment to quality and consistency.

Twice “World Champion Cask Beer” at the prestigious International Brewing Awards and winner of many other major awards, Green Devil IPA is very much the big brother of Oakham Citra, double hopped with a huge 2.25 Kg of top Citra hops per brewer’s barrel (288 pints). Influenced by his predecessor’s open-minded approach to hop selection, in 2002 John was the first UK brewer to travel to the USA to witness the hop harvest first hand. By selecting hops direct from the growers, he set a precedent for UK and US brewers alike. Green Devil IPA is also aged in a cask for at least 6 weeks to allow flavours and condition to develop even further.