Mood Ring - Pineapple, Mango, & Pink Guava
Bearded Iris Brewing

 

 

 

Love means a lot of different things to different people. And if you have a certain love for hops the Bearded Iris has a beer to put you in that certain mood. Laced with pineapple, mango and pink guava, their hazy Imperial IPA will have the senses seduced in no time flat.

Mood Ring w/ Pineapple, Mango & Pink Guava pours with a turbid golden appearance while crowning with a sturdy ivory froth. Rich, ripe and racy to the senses, the scent leads with a bold tropical scent with a backdrop of citrusy hops. But the radiant tropical additions are dominant with the scent of fresh picked fruit. Sweeter and more succulent, the early palate opens with fruit sweetness, biscotti and a notion of pulled candy.

Malt creaminess stews away on the middle palate even as the sweetness gradually fades and the fruit quickly gain command of the taste. A full tropical fruit flavor is juicy and vibrant, seeming punch-like, sherbet and creamsicle from sip to sip. but the brightness of fruit additions subside to allow the citrusy orange and grapefruit character of hops to pull from the tropical influence and dive into a peppery bitterness of chive and fruit peels.

Medium full on the finish, the ale's rich fruitiness has the senses feeling a heftier feel than is actual present. But the crisp and refreshing taste late also seems lighter with the fruit tanginess and the hop's piquantly bite lingers in a medium long afterglow.

A: Pours a murky glowing bright orange in color with moderate amounts of fine active visible carbonation rising from the bottom of the glass, light to moderate amounts of dark colored medium sized particles in suspension, and moderate bright yellow + pale orange + apricot + peach colored highlights. The beer has a three finger tall dense creamy sudsy foamy bright white head that slowly reduces to a medium to large sized patch of medium thick film covering approximately 50% of the surface of the beer surrounded by a large patch of slightly mottled very thin film covering the remainder of the surface of the beer and a medium thick ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate to strong aromas of juicy tropical/pineapple + tropical/mango + tropical/guava over the top of just shy of moderate aromas of biscuit + wheat + oat malts with slightly heavier than moderate amounts of lactose sweetness. Light to moderate aromas of vanilla + moderate aromas of juicy citrus/grapefruit + citrus/orange + citrus/lemon zest hops.

T: Upfront there are just shy of moderate flavors of biscuit + wheat + oat malts with slightly heavier than moderate amounts of lactose sweetness. That is followed by moderate to strong flavors of juicy tropical/pineapple + tropical/mango + tropical/guava and light to moderate flavors of vanilla. Finally there are moderate flavors of juicy citrus/grapefruit + citrus/orange + citrus/lemon zest hops which impart a light amount of bitterness which fades away leaving a moderate candied tropical fruit flavor lingering.

M: Medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Moderate amounts of creamy soft/fluffiness mid-body and a light amount of dryness in the finish.

O: Easy to drink with well hidden alcohol and a pleasantly creamy soft/fluffy mouthfeel. Enjoyable with really big tropical fruit flavors/aromas that are well complemented by the citrus hops + vanilla + lactose.

Pours a hazy tangerine with a 1/4" white head, which dissipates. Light lacing. Suspended particles.

Aroma is mango straight off. Also pineapple, orange.

Taste is mango, pineapple, guava, orange, vanilla, lactose.

Full blody, moderate carbonation. Semisweet finish.

Vanilla in an IPA? It's fairly decent.

 

 

 

 

 

16 oz can, canned 13 days ago on the 9th of October, and poured into a Boulevard Smokestack snifter.

The liquid is dense and creamy with a thick foggy soupy juice that's nearly like peach juice. The head is 2 fingers and dwindles to a ring shortly thereafter and leaves nice lace on the glass.

Aroma - I actually get quite a bit of malt in the nose here, it's very bready, then some dried mango and a little bit of guava. The nose is a bit quiet though.

Flavor is of breakfast grapefruit and pink guava, much like putting sugar on the rinds of those fruits. Just a little vanilla. I don't taste much else, it's kind of a muddled beer. Has a tiny bit of OJ and Grapefruit Juice at the end.

Feel is crisp and acidic with some juiciness, very mild alcohol here and it's well hidden, some slight resin on the back end.

Overall, a rare miss from Bearded Iris for me. It was too muddled and all that really poked through was bitter white grapefruit and I'm not a fan of that. It's basically Grapefruit Sculpin (not a bad beer). These guys usually do very well for me but this one was admittedly a miss. Glad I only bought a single.

Price paid : $4.50 / single
Would buy again : no

Looks like someone came out of retirement considering the date on my can say 07/07/20 still at 8.5%

Pours a yellow with so subtle orange hints thumb sized white head leaves some sparse sheet lace.

Aroma is pink guava in front followed by the pineapple, vanilla smooths it out lighter tropical fruits dominate the nose.

Taste I guess like the nose guava stands out front with pineapple followed closely behind mango and some lemon/lime like tartness bringing up the rear. lactose adds some sweetness that lingers through the finish with vanilla. Some lemon juice and lemon grass bitterness mingled in the finish with the vanilla. Smells nice taste is all over the place fruity, sweet and tart seems all a mess on my palate .

Mouthfeel is medium fairly mellow and smooth due to the lactose.

Overall just not enjoying the flavors on this one, all over the place to much for me to handle I guess.

Opaque NEIPA-like yellow-orange with a dense khaki blanket settling unevenly leaving wavy arches around the glass.

This is really smooth and velvety but that's interrupted by an odd, semi-bitter astringent and artificial fruit flavor that's kind of like Flintstones vitamins, or those tablets you add to water for fizzy flavor. The guava is watermelon-esque, and there is a rindy bitterness.

 

Thanks goes out to Buck89 for this brew.

16 oz. Can
Canned On: 11/12/18

Poured into a Tree House glass a pretty nice cloudy orangy/yellow color, pretty nice carbonation, with a pretty nice thick/creamy one-finger white head, which also leaves some nice sticky lacing behind. The nose is hoppy, malty, with a pretty nice citrus complex (orange, tangerine, pineapple, mango, pink guava), little tartness, some vanilla, nice little diesel like. The taste is pretty nice, hoppy, malty, with a pretty nice citrus complex (orange, pineapple, tangerine, mango, pink guava), some nice tartness, some vanilla, nice diesel like. Medium body, ABV hidden very well, also, nice little sweetness, with a nice little dry/bitter finish. Overall, a pretty tasty brew. Addictive! Orange Julius! Milk Shake! Thanks John!

 

Like the sweet, fruity notes as a differentiator, and all three fruit additives are definitely present and accounted for, but it’s very green and raw. Interestingly the aromas are extremely muted, with wet grass and a dank, dull fruit salad really dominating anything else that might be there. “Dominating” probably isn’t the right word because it’s not a very strong nose profile in general — there just isnt all that much going on, aroma-wise. Taste is better, but it comes off much more as a fruit beer than an IPA with a strong fruit-forward profile. But if you like fruit juice (and beers that emulate that), there’s plenty here to like. Would just prefer a little more balance. And even for me, who likes a note of sweetness in my beers, this one is overly so, though I’m not sure whether that’s the fruit, the lactose, the vanilla, or a combination of the above. Certainly milkshaky, if you’re into that. So perhaps that’s the issue: this beer is exactly what it advertises itself as being (fruit-strong milkshake IPA), but I’m just not a huge fan of the style. I really like the base Mood Ring, but this is my first experience with a variant. Certainly plenty of interesting things going on in this one!

 

 

Can dated 4/25:
An vibrant opaque light yellow-orange, a fair head, with some lacing.

Nose has a pithy lean to a tropical/citrus salad heavy on the tarter fruits. The taste follows with guava seeming to stand out, with pineapple joining up front, mango near the middle. This is not set in stone, as the flavors mix a little differently in some sips. All end with a pithy bitterness that doesn’t totally wipe the fruit from my palate.

Definitely a fruity/juicy beer that borders on fruit beer, but pulls enough hop bitterness into the mix to keep it in the classic pale ale realm.

 

 

Canned 4/25/18; drank 5/13/18 @ the Yarchives.

Opaque orange appearance.

A rough pour yielded a big white head; frothy lace.

Grapefruit, sugar & faint wheat notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Tart grapefruit & wheat flavors up front; pineapple notes on the finish. No booze heat.

Not as awesome as the strawberry version; this is still fruity & tasty.

Pours a hazy golden color, gentle pour yielded a small white head.
Smell is tropical, mango and pineapple.
Taste follows mango and pineapple up front. A little tart dank citrus lingers on the end.
Medium bodied soft feel.
Overall another great one from BI!

 

 

Poured from a can into a snifter. Bright golden-yellow haze with a frothy white head. Great retention. The mango aroma was there on the pour. Closer inspection brought more tropical fruit and faint vanilla. The taste followed the nose closely. Big mango and pineapple, supported with a milky vanilla backbone. Guava too. Soft bitterness that blended with the fruit. Nice balance. Outstanding.