Hales Mongoose IPA

22oz. bottle. I was struck by the meerkat on the label, and as it turns out there is a side story or two to that: http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/whats_the_difference. Predominantly citric, fruity aroma, notes of grapefruit and orange along with lighter touches of toasty, caramel malt sweetness. Hazy medium amber color, has plenty of sediment in the bottle and a fine, lasting head. Flavor is also primarily hoppy, with a blend of citric, lightly piney bitterness and honeyish malt in the background, finishing with a wash of tea-like, leafy, herbal tones and mildly metallic acidity. Mouthfeel is thin and moderately effervescent, body is medium. Fairly drinkable, certainly not bad, but not up to par with some of its PNW peers.

On tap @ the brewpub. Pours clear deep copper with off white head and nice lacing. It has a very pleasing citrus hop aroma with grapefruit, orange peel and in the background some yummy malty sweetness mixing with faint buttered bread. The taste starts with fresh sweet malt sweetened citrus orange and tangelo hops. The grapefruit bitterness component quickly takes over and rides into the finish. A mild sweet malty backbone is just under the surface but far from being a malty IPA. Solid!

bottle, orange colored with a big malt shop head, nose is pine and citrus, flavor is a light bitter citrus and finishes bitter also

Bottle. Somewhat cloudy orange color with minimal head. Quite malty for the style, with a rich, chewy flavor and feel. Comes across as a hopped up English style IPA, and a pretty good one at that.

Bomber bottle. Poured a slightly cloudy copper color with a light white head. Nice lacing. Aroma is hoppy but kind of off. Not a normal IPA hoppy aroma. Mouthfeel is nice. Flavor is very bitter and not much else. Heavy in grapefruit, but none of the floral hoppiness of the good IPAs. I was excited that this was available in Kansas, but this really let me down.