Raise a summer glass of Citra and marvel at how American hop came to dominate here
COLSTON CRAWFORD looks at the story behind the huge success of the Citra hop in British pubs
WHEN John Bryan took his annual trip out to the United States in 2009, little did he realise that he would be starting a small revolution in British brewing.
John, a long-standing director of Oakham Brewery, came back with the Citra hop, which had been introduced only a year earlier.
Today, it is one of the most wellknown and well-liked hop varieties in the country, and Oakham Citra – the 4.2% flagship beer of the brewery – has a national profile.
I had a notion to write about the beer, which, because it is refreshing and clean tasting, tends to be most prevalent during the summer, and then I found that John has recently retired, although he remains a partner in the brewery. His legacy in British brewing is secure.
John did not found Oakham, which is one of the longestestablished of the modern wave of British small breweries. John Wood, a beer lover and Morris dancer, did that in 1993, but he handed over the reins in 1995 and John Bryan came in as head brewer.
In 1998, the brewery moved from Oakham, in Rutland, to Peterborough. By 2002, John was making his hop-sourcing trips to the States, an annual thing apart from in 2006 when the company launched a big new 75-barrel brewery, and then in 2020 and 2021, when the pandemic stopped him.
But it was the discovery of Citra which was the big one. It had been released in 2008 by the Hop Breeding Company in the States, a cross between a couple of other varieties and immediately distinctive for its pungent, citrussy aroma. Those who know a lot about these things reference grapefruit, gooseberry, pineapple and the like.
Most notably, it produces a strongly flavoured pale beer, ideal for summer afternoons in a pub garden. It’s often used for session-strength beers.
In the States, Citra now accounts for about 15 per cent of hop production.
Back in 2009, John rushed home and ensured that Oakham produced the first beer made 100 per cent with Citra hops. He jokes: “This was my first sensible decision at Oakham Ales – to brew a hoppy, sessionable beer.”
The first brew was in November 2009, and Citra had gone on to Oakham’s permanent line-up by 2011. It has won an average of an award a year over the last decade, and is currently listed as the Champion Beer of Britain in the golden ales category. By 2018, Oakham were selling 1.7 million pints of Citra on draught and putting it into 1.7 million bottles. The beer also spawned a big brother, the splendid Green Devil IPA, which comes in at six per cent. What is the main difference to the original Citra? It simply uses a great many more of the flavoursome hops! It, too, has won a string of awards.
Green Devil is aged for at least six weeks to allow its flavours to develop.
As it happens, the stronger IPA is the one John envisaged brewing when he first rushed home clutching his Citra hops.
What a happy accident it was for the brewery’s fortunes that he produced the more regular strength beer first in the end. Oakham, over the years, have done a very good job at taking the step from small brewery to medium-to-large, with a national profile, as have, for instance, Timothy Taylor’s. They are “on the list” with the big pubowning groups, therefore you will find Citra in many Star Pubs & Bars tied houses, for example.
The Cross Keys, at Ockbrook, and the Malt, at Aston on Trent, are two places you can drink it now, but there are many more.
The success of the original Citra soon meant that other brewers jumped on board. In Derby, Dancing Duck’s DCUK is a Citrabased pale bitter, and I actually prefer it to the Oakham beer because the flavour doesn’t hit you quite so hard. It’s a more subtle beer and a popular permanent part of the brewery’s range.
Another good one is Ashover Citra, from the well-established Clay Cross-based brewery. That one pops up quite regularly at the Devonshire Arms in Burton, where it was on last week.
John Bryan completed 25 years with Oakham in 2020 and took his retirement in May this year, having a flight in a Spitfire as one of his notable leaving presents.
Raise a glass to him and his legacy when you next have a Citraflavoured pint.
Those who know a lot about these things reference grapefruit, gooseberry, pineapple and the like