Known as “Super Cascade,” US-bred Lemondrop hop features aromas of lemon, mint, green tea and a hint of melon balanced by notes of the same ilk. Originally bred by Hopsteiner in 2001 and referred to as Experimental #01210 it was released for limited experimentation in 2012, and started migrating it to the commercial stage for the 2014 crop year. It’s difficult to find beers that feature Lemondrop, so our flight today includes a couple craft beers with strong lemon flavor. So, kick back with our Craft Beer Crosscut 9.18.17: A Flight of Lemondrop and enjoy expressive lemon-citrus and subtle herbal characters.
Pike Seafair Summer Ale
4.2% ABV, 25 IBU
Did you drink Pike Brewing Company’s Seafair Summer Ale during Seafair? You were suppose to drink this light and lemony summer ale during the 67-year-old Seattle summer festival tradition. Pike Seafair Summer Ale has a clean and round mouthfeel that pops with citrusy hops — Lemondrop. Pike head brewer Art Dixon grabbed a bunch of the hops from the Yakima Valley for a fresh, citrusy and lemony flavor golden ale.
Deschutes Hop Slice Summer Ale
5% ABV, 35 IBU
Remember drinking Hop Punch ISA, Le Mini ISA and Knockout ISA at Deschutes Brewery’s Bend Pub? How about Session Diesel ISA, Granch ISA and Session Obsession at the brewery’s pub in Portland’s Pearl District? You were actually tasting the Hop Slice Session IPA in its experimental stage, the summer seasonal replacing Twilight Summer Ale. “We experimented with lemon peel, peel puree and natural extracts to find that slight lemon bitterness we were searching for. We ended up liking Meyer lemon extract the best as it had a slightly sweeter lemon aroma. We then found some hops we liked that had lemony characteristics,” says Deschutes Brewmaster Veronica Vega. Indeed, Hop Slice sweetens things a bit with Meyer lemon, which lends a juicy feel to the Lemondrop, Cascade, Galaxy, Amarillo and Centennial hops and keeps things full-bodied and flavorful for the low alcohol content.
Stone Delicious IPA
7.7% ABV, 80 IBU
Stone Brewing’s Delicious IPA features Lemondrop and El Dorado hops that showcase vibrant citrus flavors, and is notable for what the Escondido brewers have removed from the brew: much of the gluten. An enzymatic process developed by White Labs (producers of myriad yeast strains used by craft brewers) breaks down the gluten proteins, and the results is a nearly gluten-free beer that avoids the pitfalls (like the off-putting mouthfeel) often seen in gluten-free brews. But the reduced gluten levels are not the defining feature of Delicious IPA. Living up to the name, the IPA demonstrates a terrific volume of complex hop flavors. With a curiously light yet still tongue-coating body, each sip explodes with flavor — lemon zest, lemongrass, Lemon Pledge — before the bitter bite cascades across the palate, where it lingers stubbornly but never becomes acrid.
OK, here are a couple of lemon-forward craft beers that may or may not feature Lemondrop hops in their recipes. …
Evil Twin Sour Bikini
3% ABV
Throw on a bikini top, drop the beads around your neck and toss back Evil Twin‘s cross between a hop cone and a lemon. The aromatics are a truly beautiful blend of straight-up citrus, primarily lemon and tangerine, backed up by very fresh, green, grassiness. Sour Bikini tastes, in the most marvelous way, like Tang gone tipsy, or perhaps liquid Flintstones vitamins for the beer-drinking set. Low in alcohol, spritzy, tart, refreshing, citrusy and chuggable, it’s suited for IPA die-hards looking to escape a bitter rut, or intrepid drinkers eager to explore the sour waters, an accomplice to good times as endless as summer sunshine.
Aslan Disco Lemonade
4% ABV, 4 IBU
It’s the best Disco in town, funky music pound for pound / Join the crowd, come on dance and sing, hey, hey / It’s the best Disco in town, people come from miles around / It’s the place to do your own thing, hey, hey. Of course The Ritchie Family wasn’t waxing discotheque but rather Aslan Brewing’s Disco Lemonade Berliner Weisse. The light-bodied sour wheat beer is so delicious it deserves a song. With its bubby effervescence and tartness, the centuries-old Berliner weisse style was called the “Champagne of the North” by Napoleon. Aslan’s version brings out hints of lemon, while the generous amount of wheat rounds out the body lending a remarkable similarity to lemonade.
