Mandarina Soft Serve
Gun Hill Brewing Company

 

I've been liking Mandarina lately and haven't been trying any new breweries so here it is on both fronts.

Pours with a big white head, and a pale straw color.

Smell is like tangerines and oranges. Totally expected for something that was going to lean on Mandarina so heavily.

This tastes incredibly grassy with a light orange/tangerine character. For what I presume to be single-hopped with Mandarina, this is playing up the grassy characteristics so much more than I would have expected. Some lemon, sour tangerine-ish flavor is also there as well.

This is quite "poppy" given it's only 3%. It carries an orange juice like sourness ever so slightly. It is super easy to drink with all things considered, it's practically seltzer.

This is definitely a beer that you could crush several of and still run a few miles after. It really is so light and grassy I can imagine it being a refreshing beer to drink on a golf course or poolside. I mean, I think i'd be tired of this after 2 cans, but it is in no way bad. I really like how boldly grassy it is as well. Definitely deserving of the name "soft serve."

this is great stuff, lucky to have my brother send this out in a generous box of beers from back east! i love everything about it, from the packaging to the impossibly low abv, to the foamy creamy headed hazy body, to the dry and effervescent mouthfeel, and the juiciest hop complexion, the is really the complete package. its awesome to look at, but the nose and the flavor are what impress me here, how can so much flavor be packed into a beer this light? this literally redefines session ipa, and its sensational. this is really the essence of the mandarina bavaria hop, nice to see it isolated in such a simple beer, we can really appreciate its particularities here, strong orange oils, frosted flakes sort of sweetness, fresh cut pineapple, fresh herbs. i was told there is lactose in here and i believe it, its got a cool creaminess about it, and i taste an almost vanilla sort of sweetness to it, maybe some oats in the mash too, its got a starchy roundness thats positively shocking for how low alcohol this it, it really makes the beer. this is obviously robustly dry hopped, but there is a nice bitterness to it as well, the best of both worlds there, and so easy drinking and yet satisfying. impressively unique stuff from a brewery you really dont hear much about. a great can of beer, wishing i had some more, and super keen to try some of the other single hop varietals it looks like they do of it!

 

 

A: Pours a slightly hazy medium golden yellow in color with slightly heavier than moderate amounts of active visible carbonation rising from the bottom of the glass and faint amber colored highlights. The beer has a three finger tall sudsy foamy off-white head that slowly reduces to a small to medium sized thick cap in the center of the glass, a medium sized patch of thin film, and a large patch of very thin film covering the remainder of the surface of the beer with a medium thick ring at the edges of the glass. Significant amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate aromas of grassy, herbal, spicy, and citrus/orange zest hops over the top of light to moderate aromas of biscuit malts with a hint of lactose sweetness.

T: Upfront there is a just shy of moderate flavor of biscuit malts with a light amount of lactose sweetness. That is followed by moderate flavors of grassy, herbal, spicy, and citrus/orange zest hops which impart a light to moderate amount of bitterness which slowly fades away.

M: Just shy of medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Light to moderate amounts of dryness in the finish.

O: Enjoyable and easy to drink with well hidden alcohol and a much better mouthfeel than some of the other lower ABV IPAs. I could easily have a couple of these in a session.