Micro-Fu! Borrows Five Hops From a Beer Twice Its Size

Four cans went out from North Park Beer Co. this week. The largest is 10 percent. The smallest is this one, at 4.2, and it is carrying six hops.

Micro-Fu! is a double dry-hopped XPA, or Extra Pale Ale, a loosely defined style that sits between a pale ale and a session IPA. The hops are Amarillo, Citra, Columbus, Krush, Mosaic, and Simcoe. North Park describes flavors and aromas of vibrant blueberry and overripe stone fruit, finishing crisp and clean.

Line that hop list up against the TDH Hop-Fu! Gold Edition released the same day and five of the six names match: Amarillo, Citra, Krush, Mosaic, and Simcoe all appear in both. Columbus is the only addition here. One beer is 7.5 percent, the other is 4.2, and they are drawing from very nearly the same shelf.

That is the detail worth sitting with. A low-ABV beer has almost nothing to hide behind. There is less malt body, less residual sweetness, and less alcohol to carry aroma, so hop character has to land on its own or not at all. Running a full six-hop bill at 4.2 percent is a deliberate choice rather than a scaled-down one.

The blueberry note is usually traced to Mosaic, which brings a soft berry quality that most other American hops do not. Paired with the stone fruit and a dry finish, this is the sort of beer that works better alongside food than on its own, and North Park happens to run a pizza shop in Crown Point.

Micro-Fu! is out Wednesday across the taprooms, with pre-order pickup and shipping within California.