Looks like I’ve missed a few more beers in the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series again. I don’t know if its inconsistency in distribution or they just fly off the shelves in these parts. Maybe it’s the latter since they always seem to be such great beers and are fairly priced as well. Anyway, I’m grateful to be sipping on a bottle of Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Session 50: Kettle Cup 2014 Citra Victorious.

So the beers I missed were Sessions 47 and 48, and I have a bottle of 48 in my beer fridge. More on that one in a review yet to come, but as for Session 50, Harpoon says it was first brewed in September of 2013. I didn’t see it until 2014, and then it did a stint in my beer fridge until early 2015. So this one has a little age on it my friends. The Kettle Cup beers in the 100 Barrel Series, it should be noted, are winning homebrew recipes submitted by Harpoon employees. The last one I had was the 2013 Kettle cup winner, a Hoppy Belgian Style Blonde Ale, and that was truly glorious.

Harpoon says this about the 2014 Kettle Cup Citra Victorious on their website:

Citra hops provide a juicy citrus character while Chico yeast yields a fruity aroma in this grapefruit-infused pale ale. The combination of Maris Otter, Pale, and C60 malt adds depth and a touch of sweetness and gives the beer its rich bronze color and medium body.  The finish is all citrus.  Dry hopped with Citra and Cascade and loaded with 96 pounds of grapefruit peel, Harpoon Citra Victorious is easygoing with a momentous citrus kick.

Harpoon Kettle Cup Citra Victorious has an alcohol content of 5.8% with 45 IBUs. I paid just $5.99 for my bottle, a real and true bargain these days.

Harpoon 100 Barrel Series Session 50: Kettle Cup 2014 Citra Victorious pours to a brilliant orange amber color with a thick rocky head of foam and a big citrusy nose. Taking a sip, I get just the right amount of chewy caramel malt up front, appropriate to a pale ale, and then a solid citric grapefruit hoppiness (from the hops and the grapefruit peel). There is a bit of resin, too. The beer finishes with a very nice balancing bitterness, and this is a deliciously drinkable American Pale Ale in style. The grapefruit peel really comes through in a bitter rindy pithy way and makes for an extra treat.

Harpoon sometimes repeats beers in the 100 barrel series, and though I doubt that will happen with this one because it’s a Kettle Cup winner, you can be sure that if they did, I would buy it again. It’s that good.



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