Siren / Mikkeller / Hill Farmstead Limoncello (Lemon Cello) IPA
This is an awesome collaboration with Mikkeller and Hill Farmstead. It will mess with your mind as an IPA designed to mimic Limoncello. A slightly sour mash, combined with Lactose for sweetness, tonnes of lemon Zest and hopped to death with Sorachi Ace and Citra. Bottle, cask and keg. [Labeled as "Lemon Cello IPA" in the US Market.]
3.5
396 reviews
Finchampstead, England
Community reviews
Tap - fair size foamy head, light gold color, definite big lemon aroma and flavor, some mild tartness and funk in there, mild malt backbone, a little different but good overall
Bottle. Pours a cloudy orange with a bit of a gold hue and a near white head that dissipates to the edges slowly. Aroma has a good amount of fresh lemony citrus with sweet grains and grass backing. Flavor is full of sweet lemon that has a growing bitterness and a light sweet grain backbone.
500 ml bottle into tulip glass, best before 1/14/2016. Pours very hazy deep orange/amber color with a 2 finger dense and fluffy off white head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass. Aromas of big lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, orange peel, citrus rind, pineapple, berry, pepper, pine, wheat, honey, cream, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great complexity and balance of citrus/tropical hops, lemon juice, and pale malt notes; with great strength. Taste of big lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, orange peel, citrus rind, pineapple, berry, pepper, pine, wheat, honey, cream, herbal, and floral/grassy earthiness. Good amount of piney/spicy/citrus rind bitterness and citrusy tartness on the finish; with lingering notes of lemon, lime, grapefruit, tangerine, orange peel, pineapple, berry, wheat, honey, cream, and herbal/floral/grassy earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/tropical hops, lemon juice, and pale malt malt flavors; with a great malt/bitter/tartness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Good amount of dryness from bitterness and tartness. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/sticky/resinous, and lightly acidic mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a small warmth lingering after the finish. Overall this is an awesome fruited double IPA style. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of citrus/tropical hops, lemon juice, and pale malt flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the big ABV. A highly enjoyable offering.
Tap at Schera’s. Hazy yellow-golden pour with a white spotty head. Rich sharp lemon aroma and especially taste. Tart and bright. Solid.
Draft at iron abbey. Pours clear golden with a medium sized white head. The aroma is quite happy with plenty of lemon and orange shining through. The taste is over the top lemon, light bitterness, citrusy finish.
Pours a slightly hazy gold with a short, foamy white head. It has a rich lemon aroma with some tart notes. The flavor is lemon and sourness with some lactose sweetness and a smooth body.
Bottle. Cloudy orange with a mostly lasting white head. Aroma of lemon peel, ginger, honey. Similar taste, loads of lemon, really similar to limoncello. Oily mouthfeel, medium carbonation. Great stuff.
19-Sep-14 (500-ml bottle: Purchased 19-Sep-14 for $10.59 at The Bine & Vine Bottle Shop in San Diego, CA)
This beer pours a very hazy, dark-golden body with almost an inch of off-white head that settles to a creamy sheet and ring. The nose is a combination of Lemon Pledge and lychee, with pink grapefruit and a hint of stinky feet. On the palate, it tastes like sour pink grapefruit and lychee juices with just a hint of sweetness. The beer is light-medium in weight, medium in carbonation, and light-medium in acidity with a somewhat dry finish. Overall, this really doesn’t taste like limoncello at all, which is a good thing because I think limoncello is pretty bad. But this beer is simple and straight forward and doesn’t really even have a lemony character. Good, not a great beer.
Aroma is wonderful! Probably my favorite part of the beer honestly. Lemon and pine mingle almost perfectly. Tart lemon aroma but not puckeringly so. Flavor takes up more of the lemon tartness. Funky which is great but honestly a little too much. Could use some residual sweetness to balance just a bit. Very close approximation of the beloved Italian liquor
Poured from bottle hazy deep orange with a thin white head. Aromas of sweet lemon candied citrus floral and pine. Taste is sweet with a light bitter notes like the aroma. A nice drinker for a hot summer day.
September 8,2 014 - at Craft Clapham - on draught.Looks great - hazy deep orange-gold with a smallish but lasting tightly foamy off-white head. Aroma is super - floral, pine, alcohol, fruity and lemony - taste - big hit of green oak tannin (frankly my palate may have been shocked) with waves of lemon/citrus - has a sharp bite, and now I read the description, that "oak" is just Sorachi messing with my palate the way it usually does - good stuff! Average body, solid carbonation, quite astringent, with a long big finish. Lovely.
From cask. Hazy yellow golden color with white head. Hoppy malty and yeasty aroma, citrusy fruity, lemon and orange, grassy. Sweet and light bitter taste like aroma. Medium oily body with soft carbonation
On draft at Hunahpu day 2015. Pours a hazy yellow with a white head. Nose is some sweet lemon, candied citrus, sweetness, and some mild citrus bitterness. Flavor is sweet lemon, candied citrus, big sweetness, and citrus bitterness. Light to medium in body and very nice IPA overall. I like the concept and thought it was well executed.
Shared 16.9 oz. bottle poured to snifters, showing a hazed, orangey gold color, with a frothy layer of soft white head foam, and clingy ribbons & dots of lacing. The nose was initially dank, then followed with a mixture of esters as pit fruit, orange, and especially lemon. The taste highlighted expressive & zesty lemon, just a touch of sweetness, dryness, and tartness that worked well with the moderate carbonation. A bit less than medium bodied, hop bitterness was citrusy & rind-like, and the alcohol seemed well masked. A unique IPA recipe to say the least.
bottle. hazy golden orange with one finger head. tart with an abundance of lemon. the hop flavors mesh well, other than the bitterness which is a little out of place. booziness is well hidden.
A hard hitter to be sure. Tastes like one of those lemon sherbet sweets which were quite nice but crossed with a lime fruit pastille which you wouldn’t do. Fine for one, obviously not doable for a session. Avoid if there are better options. A distinctive experience.
Draft at Hen of the Wood. Mostly clear gold orange with a sheeting off white head and medium lace. Strong lemon aroma. Spice forward. Good mix of sweet, tart, and hoppy.
Cask conditioned at The Nags Head, Reading, Berks. Hazy gold with white head. There is a sharp lemon character to this, clean and quite bitter. The lemon is pretty dominant but quite pleasant. I wouldn’t want too much of this but enjoyed it non the less.
Bottle. Cloudy straw/gold with some white head. Tons of lemon throughout. Light malt backbone. Soft mouthfeel. A little unbalanced to me.
Bottle. Hazy bright dark yellow/orange. Sweet tarts, lemon sour, exactly like lemon cello. Great job on the concept but, not my favorite.
Draught. Clear golden colour. Lemony aroma. Tart, lemon, lactic flavour, with a bitter finish
On tap at Side Project, this was one I couldn’t pass up, just seemed to strange not to try, pours a clear amber orange with an off white head, the aroma is pretty heavy on the citrus and fruit, with a little bit of funk and sourness in there, the flavor starts out with some lemon and fruit with a funky finish, some hops still in there as well, this is really strange, don’t think I would chase down again anytime soon.
On tap at The Farmhouse. Boozy, sourish, tastes pretty awful. A hint of lemon. I guess they hit the limoncello flavor they were going for. But how could anyone drink more than a sip of this stuff? Why bother making this?
2/V/15 - on tap @ Tilquin English Beer Festival - BB: n/a (2015-583) Thanks to the ratebeer crew and other people for sharing today’s beers!
Clear orange beer, cramy off-white head, very stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: lots of raclette cheese, and no that’s not a good thing! Very weird and cheesy. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: very cheesy, no really, it’s all raclette cheese, bit lemony and sourish as well. Aftertaste: very cheesy, bit sourish, dairy, funky. Man that’s bad!
pint 9 bottle shared and either you are a fan of this one or you are not. and I was not. definite lemon and hop nose. that was the good part. the rest of this beer was not me at all over abundance of lemon and lactose was not my cup of beer. sorry guys and gals just not what you want or expected for a lemon ipa.
This a genuine first for me in a long time. This beer truly delivers. Surprisingly more "sour" than "IPA". However it falls short where most beers do...aroma. which in imho is the least important of the categories.
Sample at Tilquin Englisch Beer Festival 2015. Thanks for sharing!
APPEARANCE: clear blond beer.
NOSE: lime, faint hoppy.
TASTE: didn’t really enjoy it... Though made well
Courtesy toss via Pepe. Pours like an IPA with a heavy malt bill. Huge head, dark orange body. Aromas of lemon pledge and flowery perfume. Taste is heavily lemon, lactic tang, bittering hops. Interesting. Alcohol hidden. Finishes pretty drying. Good.
On tap at parker pie: pours clear golden orange with lots of white foamy head. Aroma is malty sweet, citrus, and a little basementy. Taste is very malty with lotsnof sour lemon juice and bitterness from zest. Medium body, a little boozy, it’s ok.
Bouteille 500ml. Couleur orangée pâle translucide, mousse blanche nuageuse. Arôme de zeste de citron, malt, citronnelle, alcool, houblon herbal. Goût de citron, acidité moyenne-faible, malt, alcool, houblon herbal, amertume un peu "harsh". Carbonatation moyenne-élevée, corps moyen.