All Citra pale ale

Dry as a bone. That's what comes to mind when I taste this beer. Even though I undershot the target gravity by only three points and despite a final gravity of 1.010. But yet a beer like this demonstrates what can happen when a less-than-vigorous boil leaves you with too much volume. And what's what happened here. I had too much wort by about half a gallon. I think if I'd reached my target volume, I of course would have had a higher original gravity, which would have led to a higher final gravity, and thus a slightly sweeter beer. This beer needs some sweetness to balance out the bitterness and hops.

This isn't an extremely hoppy beer though. It doesn't pop, at least not like some of the other hoppy beers I've made his year. I wonder if it might have some more zing if it were sweeter.

It has pretty good aroma -- fruit, citrus -- but the flavor doesn't quite follow. Flavor is where that lack of zing is especially apparent. Maybe due to the older hops that made up half of the boil hop bill? Maybe due to some oxidation that I'm not aware of? I never opened the fermenter between brew day and keg day, so I'm not exactly sure where that would occur.

Clarity is quite low, but not as low as the london ale iii beers. The oats might be imparting the haziness, or maybe these early pours are just picking up some yeast at the bottom of the keg.

All in all, not a bad beer. I certainly don't have a problem drinking it. But I can definitely find room for improvement. Beers like this kind of highlight the downfall of being the creator and drinker. For a person unfamiliar with what I had in mind for the finished product, it's probably really enjoyable, and they can just enjoy it for what it is. For me, however, my enjoyment is tempered by knowledge of what it isn't. Maybe I just need to let go of those thoughts.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/citra-pale-ale-21cfad

Update 12/8/15:

This beer is a little sweeter than I originally thought, or at least compared to All day IPA. I had that last night, followed by this citra pale ale, and the citra beer seemed much maltier in comparison. Additionally, the taste is more like raw hops, rather than the typical mellow, nuanced flavors and aromas I get from hops that have interacted with yeast or served as dry hops. I'm not particularly fond of that raw hop flavor.