Citrus Wave Lager (Aldi) By @SpectreUK

It's been a dim, cold damp and dreary start to the year, so I thought I'd try to cheer things up a bit by choosing a bright and colourful beer. Citrus Wave is a dry-hopped lager from The Great British Brewing Company's guest brewer Sadler's Brewery. On the label there is a palm tree on a sandy beach and a giant (albeit friendly) looking wave just about to wash ashore. The label states that there is intensely bitter aromas of grapefruit, tangerine and Mediterranean lemon for a fruity and then malty finish. Mmm… sounds good, especially with my usual tuna sandwich on a Saturday!

Okay, so on opening this 4.5% volume lager there wasn't much of the traditional fizz, but there certainly was some fruity zesty citrus aromas. On pouring this light bubbly lager the citrus aromas more merged than battled each other for a kind of pseudo grapefruit, tangerine and lemon drink you might find in a Mocktail bar, but with the smell of a sweet barley malt right behind it.

On taste this golden lager is every bit the classic hoppy fruity spring summer chilling in a hot garden with a good book beer (or on a sandy beach, I guess) that you may expect it to be from its name. Citrus wave it certainly is. The citrus bitterness from the hops hit my tastebuds first with a refreshing slap of predominately grapefruit, then a dash of bitter lemon, and a little tangerine. The sweet malted barley almost pounces on this fruity concoction to remind me almost instantaneously that this is a beer, and a good one at that, not one of those Mocktail jobbies for those who don't like the golden good life! Cheers, and bring on some sunshine!