23 January 2022. At Hal 16 (Dok Brewing). Shared with the lovely Anke.

Hazy ochre, small, off-white head. Aroma of ripe mango, orange peel, grapefruit, honey, biscuit, melon, vague butter. Taste has sweet mango, orange & melon over a biscuity malt base with bitter citrus peel aspects. Floral & piney hoppy finish, quite grapefruity with bitter (unripe) mango lingering. Medium body, oily texture, average carbonation. Mango is often used physically and thus excessively, be it in Pale Ales or Sours, so this is a really skilfully executed alternative.

The other one in a pair of APAs hopped with new cryo hop blends from Yakima Valley – this time intended to evoke mango without actually containing mango, in an even stronger and more convincing way than individual and non-cryogenic New World hop varieties are capable of. Medium thick, snow white, slowly dissipating, dotty-lacing head, hazy deep orange-glowing peach blonde robe. Aroma of indeed convincing mango (flesh) – more so than I was even expecting, orange pith, grapefruit peel, dry biscuit, toasted onion, pine resin, lemon zest. Sweetish, clean onset, citrusy from the start in a bright, attractive way, hints of persimmon and mango, sharply carbonated – even with a numbing effect, so in any case too much so for whatever style; smooth, oily mouthfeel nonetheless, biscuity maltiness with toasty, gently bittering edge, under a long, powerful and lovely citrusy hoppiness where indeed this mango effect returns, surrounded by piney, oniony and grapefruity elements; the bitterness remaining from it is elegant and soft, yet long-stretched, as befits and APA. Clean, ‘sunny’, bright and ‘pretty’ beer, a lovely treat fresh from tap at Dok; I loved this one for its technical perfection, and in any case the mango intention here is much more obvious than the berry intention in the other APA that is part of this pair (‘Bessen Komen, Bessen Gaan’). More than decent!