Totally Rational Hazy IPA

The beer

Citrus arrives as juice rather than rind, and that is the impression the beer leads with. Mango joins it in the mouth, juicy citrus over a soft malt, hops present and kept in balance. Nothing in the middle shouts. The fruit is the point, and the malt gives it a soft place to sit.

The finish is where it becomes beer instead of a fruit glass. The bitterness does not scrape. It is enough to keep the juice from turning sweet, and not enough to turn this into a hard bitter bite. The malt stays soft. It cushions the citrus and then steps aside.

What reads as a hazy IPA is that combination. Juicy citrus and mango, hops in proportion, a dry close that still tastes of orange. The limit is the bitterness, which is light. The pleasure is the fruit, and it lasts past the swallow. Drink it for that lingering orange, not for a bitter argument the beer is not making.

Orange is the thread. It opens the aroma with tangerine and pineapple, shows up again as juice with the mango, and is still there when the beer has gone dry. That continuity is the review. The light bitterness is only the frame around it.