Another fantastically named beer, this time from our French brewery La Debauche. Cat-Soup (I have no idea why the two words are hyphenated) is an 8% double IPA that uses only Citra hops for bittering, flavour and aroma.
Single hop IPA’s were kind of a thing some years ago, but you don’t really see them that much any longer. Much more in vogue is the addition of 4 different hops from a roster of 10 that are slowly rotated through all the permutations.
But I always found the single hop beers quite instructive because you got to actually know what a particular hop taste and smells like. Citra is a common choice for single hop IPA’s as it seems the hop can do a fine job of the bittering while offering a lovely triopical taste and aroma (reference the Duvel Tripel Hop series for proof.)
This beer pours a slightly hazy golden orange colour, looking quite light in the glass. The aroma is actually a little subdued. The tropical fruits notes are there, but they aren’t exactly jumping out of the glass. You have to stick your nose right in the glass to get a good hit of aroma.
To taste it is all about those Citra hops. Grapefruit citrus, peach and passionfruit greet the tastebuds, with the beer sitting lightly on the palate. Probably lighter than you would expect from a DIPA with a reasonably high carbonation, it hides that ABV quite well. Not the punchiest of DIPA’s but a nice beer that highlights the Citra hops.
(And I have no idea what the Cat has to do with things either!)