Galaxy is grown in Australia. Motueka is grown in New Zealand. Between them, those two countries account for most of the hop industry in the region known as Oceania, and that is where Allegheny City Brewing found the name for Oceanic IPA.
The can does not leave the connection to be worked out. A panel on the front carries a straight dictionary definition of the word, and smaller type below it runs through the hops by country of origin. It is an unusually literal piece of label copy, and it tells you what the beer is organized around before you have opened it.
The third hop breaks the pattern, and does so deliberately. Citra is American, and the brewery lists it alongside the other two. What all three share is a direction rather than a passport. Galaxy is known for passionfruit and peach and for an unusually high oil content. Citra brings grapefruit and lime. Motueka adds a lemon-lime lift over a noble-hop backbone. Three different origins, three routes to roughly the same tropical and citrus territory, which is why the can settles on Tropical Citrus IPA as its descriptor rather than picking a single fruit.
A hop bill pointed that hard at citrus would sit well next to food carrying some chili heat, where the fruit reads as relief rather than as a matching note. That is a JollyPint suggestion, not a claim from the brewery.
Oceanic is 6.5 percent ABV, and Allegheny City describes it as its most popular hazy IPA. It returns Wednesday, September 2 on draft and in cans at the Deutschtown taproom on East Ohio Street. The Brighton Heights location on California Avenue gets cans the same day, with draft to follow after Singletrack Riwaka clears the line.
Source & Editorial
JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.