Ballast Point Brewing Company Mango Even Keel Session IPA at 3.8% ABV | 40 IBU (C$3.99 at Oak & Vine, 355 ml, bottle date 30-Dec-2016, acquired 11-Mar-2017, reviewed 21-Mar-2017)
Appearance: clear deep gold with a large rocky ivory head, good retention and moderate lacing. (4/5) Aroma: sweet tropical fruit, citrus, pale malt. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, moderate bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium-light body, moderate carbonation, crisp dry mild bitter finish. (4/5)
Somewhat surprisingly, because I usually don’t prefer varietals, I think I prefer this to the base version. I rather suspect there’s a couple of things contributing to that preference: the mango flavour fills out the bottom end, making the finish less thin or sharp than the base version, but also the overall bitterness is somewhat less (40 IBU for this, compared with 51 for the regular version). As importantly, perhaps, the fruit notes come across as sweet and juicy, but not saccharine or artificial. Generally speaking, more hops is better hops, obviously – but when you’re dealing with such a light malt bill, perhaps discretion might be the better part of valour. This time. (16/20)
8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
