Belhaven's Twisted Mango IPA & Twisted Grapefruit IPA

Belhaven Brewery has launched its latest beer in its fruit flavoured range - Twisted Mango IPA & Twisted Grapefruit IPA.

Firstly, let me start off by saying that we lived and breathed Scotland and more specifically, Edinburgh, for the greater part of 12 months. So the Scottish Capital holds a special compartment in our beer loving hearts. It's the place where I was first exposed to pints of Guinness followed by whiskey chasers........wait.....maybe that's because I was living with a Irish fella who was always up for a good time....probably. Nonetheless, it was also my first experience of Deuchars (a utterly iconic and superb cask ale) and shed loads of Belhaven Best (sweet and malty with toffee and caramel notes with a really smooth, satisfying bitter finish).

Belhaven’s brewing history dates back to the 12th century AD with the current brewery founded in 1719, so near enough 300 years of brewing history. So when we received a parcel with a couple of cans of Twisted Mango IPA, we had high hopes and a twinkle appeared in our eyes.

Belhaven's can design is kind of a retrocool design, with its representation of the Old Brewery's iconic stooped, concave like brewhouse roofs and the text follows along with the old yet modern style format. Quirky but effective.

Twisted Mango IPA - The beer pours clear golden with a moderate white head. The lacing is fairly weak but it has a good biscuit malt background. Definite floral notes from the Galaxy and Chinook hops but we feel it's fairly restrained. Unfortunately, if you aren't brewing in the Tropics, mango is hard to comeby. Even more unfortunate is that the synthetic mango flavouring is fairly apparent in this beer and that's a real shame. The bitterness on the end seems a bit lighter then we would prefer but its light to medium body does seem to carry the sweetness fairly well.

Twisted Grapefruit IPA - So this pours fairly clear, bronze in colour with a moderate white head. The floral notes are fairly prominent with a good malt backbone. The flavour is moderate sweet, lightish bitter with a dry, synthetic grapefruit flavour which is apparent but it's definitely the moderate and dry sweetness along with the woody aftertaste that makes this IPA sort of enjoyable.

Looking at these two beers without our 'Craft Beer' (Independent Brewery) hats on, we can sort of see what Greene King/Belhaven are aiming to achieve. Their fruit flavoured range is aimed at the market where they can attract beer drinkers (not necessarily beer lovers) to try something a bit different. With a market which is ever changing and swinging more towards variety, these beers have not been brewed to achieve market dominance. Instead, they have been brewed to entice and tap into a part of the market that can allow a non-beer drinker to maybe think about trying something new.

In all honesty, its most certainly not our kind of brew but we'll still have a pint of 'Bestie' anytime of the day!

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Crafty Couple