Tangerine IPA
Potosi Brewing Company

Look: 4.0
I grabbed the can… I saw the orange color… I read the fine print: Juicy and hoppy -- yep, this is the one! No need to assess SRM or measure the head -- this beer looks alive, sparkling, and very ready to drink. She’s gorgeous!

Smell: 4.0
I clearly said to myself: Mandarin and fresh orange… Then I looked at the name of the beer -- duh. Tangerine. My nose still says mandarin and fresh orange. Marketing semantics -- clearly working. The smell is intense and opens into a floral note… and I haven’t even poured it out of the damn can.

Taste: 4.5
Orange yes. Mandarin yes. Tangerine yes. And then the bitterness of the hops saves the day. Pithy orange peel and pink grapefruit close the deal. It’s acidic and bitter in a lovely way.

Mouthfeel: 4.5
All that taste, all that smell -- the mouthfeel didn’t let me down either. Bitter, sweet, sour, umami… and that said, I’m probably the “salty guy” in the room.

Overall: 4.25
Coming off the well-executed Amber Cave Ale… if for some reason this batch doesn’t sell out immediately, keep it cold in the cave -- it’ll stay fresher that way. But for me... I’m drinking it !

Aroma is big tangerine/citrus/hint of orange popsicle and mild dark fruit. The flavor is malts/grains, mild dark fruit and a big tangerine/orange popsicle/spicy hop finish.

 

Pint can......ABV 6.5% 55 IBUs

 

L: poured from a pint can, Minimal head that dissipates after poured, dark amber color.
S: Very citrusy tangerine with a nice piney hop.
T: Pretty tart lovely citrusy tangerine with a nice finish of some pine and citrus tasting hops.
F: Very tart and slightly dry but no alcohol feel and stays decently refreshing. Medium body.
O: Nice summer beer and I would say is the IPA equivalent of a lemon summer shandy but oh so much better.

Received as a trade extra back in early 2016. Continues the one (and only?) hole in the Wisconsin beer scene: elite tier hoppy beers.

Pours a copper/amber/dull orange kind of color. Has an orange/tangerine juice aroma. Its actually decent for sensory analysis purposes, this is a good example of distinguishing between the sweeter citrus notes from the adjunct/juice itself, and the harder, better way of doing an ipa, from the hops.

The taste furthers the divide. There are relatively strong high alpha acid bittering hops here I suspect. You get an alternating brassiness with the tangerine, but that brassiness seems to be the alpha dog on this hunt. Clocks in around 65 ibu I would guess. The malt body is substantial for style. At first I thought it was just the color from the juice addition, but I suspect there is some crystal malt contribution as well. I would guess the Nugget hop is the most used in terms of weight. Citra gets swallowed by the juice. CTZ just doesn't pop those weed notes like it can. This might be the rare time I think a flaked body might have worked out better.

 

 

Pours a hazy cooper/orange. Aroma is of pure tangerine, almost nothing else. Taste is a decent balance between bitter hops and sour-ish tangerine, but the tangerine tends to overpower the other flavors that may be present in the beer. Very tart. Medium mouthfeel and a light bitter aftertaste.