After including the Duvel Tripel Hop Citra in last months pack, I thought it only right to back up with the second available version this month to allow for a timely comparison of the two beers. (I’ll tell you the correct answer, but not just yet!)
The Citra version has been a permanent feature in the Duvel range since 2017, and they backed that up with the Cashmere version since 2019.
For the hop geeks among you, Cashmere hops were developed as a cross between Cascade and Northern Brewer hops. It isn’t exactly a new hop, but I can’t say that there are too many beers I see that use this hop as the feature.
The result is a delicious Belgian IPA, in the true sense of the word. By that I mean the base beer is a proper Belgian beer (doesn’t get much more ‘proper Belgian’ than Duvel), which is then given the IPA dry hopping treatment.
A light and grainy Belgian Golden Strong at heart, the Belgian yeast characters are dominant, with lots of fruity flavours of peach, melon, citrus and some spice. Reasonable hop bitterness lightens the mouthfeel and provides and tingly, lingering bitterness to the finish. Great beer but I still prefer the Citra version!