Bruery | Elysian | Stone - La Citrueille Celeste de Citracado

type: seasonal ale
origin: Orange County, Seattle, San Diego
price: $3/12oz
abv: 5%
NSP: 5.9
website

Yet another collaboration beer from Stone, with The Bruery, and Elysian (who?).   "The celestial pumpkin of Citracado" is the translation.  Cool name, and +1 for the self-reference (since the Stone brewery is off Citracado Pkwy.) making it seem like a mystical place filled with elves and beer fairies magically creating delicious beer.

But this is a delicious beer.  Citrusy, spicy, and earthy flavors dominate - definitely ones you'd expect from a good "pumpkin" ale, but done in a way that's not annoying or kitschy.  The bitterness is spot on, which is probably the reason it's not over-the-top.

The ingredients used were pumpkin, yam, toasted fenugreek, lemon verbena, and birch bark.  Or, in lay-person terms: yum, yum, "what the fuck is fenugreek", "what the fuck is verberna", "uh, ok".  Now at this point I expect Sambo to comment something like "oh yeah I used to cook with fenugreek all the time - it's used in a lot of Arab dishes" followed by "it really highlights the lemon verbena phenol esters.".  I'm sure it does, but GTFO.