Mandarin Monkey
3rd Turn Brewing

Blurring the line between hops and fruit is challenge that brewers at 3rd Turn are wiling to accept. The generous use of mandarin oranges in a hazy, New England styled IPA renders this session juicy with citrus flavors from sip to finish. As far as I know, no actual monkeys where harmed in the making of this beer though.

Turbid gold and with a matte burnt orange depth, Mandarin Monkey won't shine in appearance but is sure will in scent as the ale leaps right out with a radiant perfume of all-things-orange. Hints of tropical fruit, botanical herbs and orchard fruit back up the citrus before a leading taste of pastry, shortbread and smoothie hit the tongue running.

As its sweetness lingers boldly on the middle palate, the malts only act to give the growing orange flavors more of a boldness, a heft, a radiance that the fruit and otherwise dry barley taste cannot achieve on its own. Branch ripe and squeezed straight from the field, the citrus taste meanders through peach, apricot, pink grapefruit, passionfruit and pineapple, en route to a moderately bittered late palate, rife with geranium, chive, green tea, hemp and peppery hay.

Medium bodied from start to finish, the beer's culinary art focuses squarely on the mandarin orange with the same tempo in taste throughout. An resist to fade to dryness sells its culinary rewards high, but at the sacrifice of a drier, crisper or more refreshing session. A spice of curacao liquor comes with the lingering bitterness into a medium long aftertaste.