No. 25 - Citrus Cerveza Folds the Salted Rim Into the Recipe

The salt in Overflow Brewing Company's No. 25 travelled further than most things that end up in an Ottawa beer. The limited-release Citrus Cerveza is brewed with Vancouver Island sea salt, sourced from the opposite coast. It seasons a 4.5% lager built around lemon and lime.

Cerveza is the lane occupied by pale, crisp, lightly hopped lagers. No. 25 sits at 14 IBU, low enough that bitterness was never the assignment. The citrus is. On most beers in this territory, lime shows up at the table as a wedge shoved into the bottle neck. Here the can reads "with Real Lime," and both the lime and the salt are worked into the beer before it reaches the glass - the salted rim, folded into the recipe.

Overflow describes the pour as bright and sunshine-yellow with a slight haze, and the aroma as a burst of zesty citrus led by fresh lemon and lime. The flavour, according to the brewery's notes, runs to tangy lemon and bright lime with a subtle hint of briny sea salt, finishing light, lively and dry. The brewery also says the beer has taken home an award, though the announcement does not name it.

The number is worth a second look. Overflow runs a numbered range alongside a core lineup that goes by name: Crosswalk Pale Ale, Landlocked, Rearview. No. 25 currently sits on the list next to No. 27, a 2.9% Micro IPA. The numbering has reached at least twenty-seven, so this is a standing habit rather than a one-off.

A cerveza that has already handled the lime and the salt would sit comfortably next to anything you would otherwise reach for a lime wedge to finish: tacos, grilled fish, whatever comes off a barbecue in the last stretch of patio weather.

No. 25 is pouring at Overflow's Kaladar Avenue taproom and available in 473 mL cans to go, with online ordering and delivery. The brewery is being direct about the timeline: "here for a good time, not a long time," as the newsletter puts it. Once the run is gone it is gone.