Jai Alai IPA - Mango - Cigar City Brewing

mikesgroove

South Carolina

4.5/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A huge thanks to Greg.

Another nice one off from CCB, I was happy to see this growler show up in my fridge. Poured cold into multiple pint glasses, I really enjoyed this one.

Really nice pour, medium amber in color with a good clarity to it that allowed me to see copious amounts of carbonation bubbling up toward the surface, nice head of white comes up around three fingers high before floating back down to earth and really leaving the top nearly bare. Aroma is deep citrus fruit. Light, grapefruit, mango, hints of fresh tropical fruit really just dominating the air here. As it warms the focus turns to a deep grapefruit note that really starts to pick up quite nicely. Sharp biting hops welcome me onto the scene almost immediately, Rich grapefruit, pineapple, mango, guava flavors melded with a nice light grain note and a hint of a bready touch. Smooth, medium body with a nice light carbonation that really lets the flavor pop. Easy to drink the growler went down without an issue.

Overall I thought this was excellent, really a very good example of the style and I would have no issues trying this again. Always love the treatments they put out there and this was no exception.

Serving type: growler

04-29-2010 01:33:45 | More by mikesgroove

brentk56

North Carolina

4.38/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Appearance: Arrives with a cloudy amber color and a nice head that leaves a few spider webs of lace behind

Smell: Biscuity undertones, but the aroma is rather pithy

Taste: At first, the biscuity malt flavors jump out, only to be outmatched by the growing pithy hop flavors in rather short order; by mid-palate, the mango flavor becomes apparent, with its full complexity arriving after the swallow, with a nicely-balanced sweet, but bitter, finish

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, gently carbonated

Drinkability: A really unique flavor profile, with sugary dried fruit alongside the bitter hop elements

Serving type: cask

03-16-2010 00:56:27 | More by brentk56

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.9/5  rDev -7.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Cigar City takes NYC event at Rattle 'N' Hum. On cask. The fruit is in there, it looks great with a big head for a cask. Above average mouthfeel. Cedar in there. Really hoppy.
Probably a higher score on tap, which may affect drinkability. mango was a bit syrupy, I agree.

Serving type: cask

02-21-2010 05:45:46 | More by northyorksammy

ahalloin

Virginia

4.1/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

DRINKNDRIVE brought this to a tasting a few weeks back in those tiny growlers the state of Florida makes breweries use. Cute little things are almost like milk jugs. Floridians need to write their state representatives and attempt to get Florida to catch up with the 21st Century on growler laws....but I digress.

Thanks Devin for bringing this beer!

The Mango poured a dark gold clear fluid with a light white whispy head. A great look considering it was a traveling growler.

The aroma totally rocked! Dense citrusy sweet with a pronounced tropical fruit note. It was a very strong aroma as well, intoxicating the senses with Florida fruit grove aromas!

The flavor didn't pack as much of the citrus as I would have liked but it was an incredibly bitter pungent block of flavor that powers through to an incredibly bitter finish. There is little to no malt backbone here. This reminds me a bit of PtE with that ridiculously great aroma and bitterness but not quite having the citric hop flavor that I would normally want in a DIPA. There is also a noticeable touch of alcohol heat in the finish for me.

Mouthfeel was good with a low-medium carbonation level.

Drinkability was good but not great for me. This beer is incredibly bitter on the back end and the hot alcohol make this beer difficult to session.

Serving type: growler

02-03-2010 14:41:05 | More by ahalloin

drabmuh

Maryland

4.2/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Poured from a growler into a becher. Beer is hazy and kind of orange. Big off white head of small and medium bubbles. Falls away leaving some lacing on the glass.

Beer smells like hops and mango. Smells really good actually. Those to aromas go together quite well.

Strong bitterness and good hop flavor. Beer is smooth and finishes nicely with this lingering bitterness throughout the mouth. No real aftertaste to speak of. Mango flavors are definitely there, add to a tartness of the overall beer. It tastes good. Mouthfeel is good and well connected and drinkability is high. I really enjoyed it and would definitely have it again.

Serving type: growler

01-25-2010 19:36:30 | More by drabmuh

Gtreid

Florida

4.33/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Growler, poured into my Stone RIS tulip.

A: Slightly hazy, burnt orange color. The pour produces one and a half fingers of off white head, that leaves some nice lace.

A: Great citrus hop aroma coupled with a balancing malt backbone. The Sweetness from the mango also makes an appearance.

T: Really nice sweetness from the generous malt and mango. Not over the top just really nice. Balanced, hoppy, and mangoey goodness. Finishes bitter and sweet.

M: Smooth, medium body. A bit resiny, but quite pleasant.

D and overall impression: Drinkability is quite high with this. The mango, one of my favorite fruits, is displayed well. Overall, a really nice treatment on an already great beer. The mango does it's job and then some. Get it while you can. Skal.

Serving type: growler

01-17-2010 02:46:12 | More by Gtreid

tpd975

Florida

4/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A: Light amber hue. Nice tall white head with great lace.

S: Very much citrus like the regular IPA. Very mild notes of caramel and tropical fruit.

T: Citrus hops for sure. The mango play second fiddle big time. The malt character from the regular Jai Alai is there for balance. Wish it had a bit more fruit.

M: Medium in body, smooth

D: Pretty darn good. Would like it even more if it was not 40 degrees outside.

Serving type: on-tap

01-07-2010 21:11:07 | More by tpd975

maximum12

Minnesota

4.53/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

Picked up a pint of this at the Cigar City tasting room & liked it so much we filled a growler to drag back to the beach with us.

Pours a distinctly Crayola color of sunset. Smell is immediate, distinct, & extremely pleasant: hops & mango, sweet & bitter, Brad & Angelina.

Mango IPA is a good one. I can't help but compare it to the only other Mango IPA I've heard of, at the incomparable Town Hall Mango Mama. This is a whole different ballgame. Where TH chose to let the Mango run the show & bludgeon the hops into submission, this is the opposite. The hops are singing in a massive choir, like a flowering garden in May. The mango is subservient, just lending a gentle hand of sweetness to balance out the hell-bent hops & keep this from being a palate-wrecker. After the mango is swept aside, the hops return & only on the afterparty does the bitterness take hold.

Wow. Just a spot-on great twist on an IPA. I don't know if this is the 7.5% of the Jai Alai IPA, but I could drink this one all day. As a matter of fact, between the wife & I the growler is now empty. As it should be!

This is a fine, excellent beer. Well made, done up right with the additional mango, easy to drink, yowza. Just great.

Serving type: on-tap

01-07-2010 18:40:08 | More by maximum12