Beer Bright Brewery The Orchard NEIPA & Mango Sweetart

The brewery team at Bright has clearly been feeling fruity this spring, with both these limited run beers very much defined by their fruitiness, albeit in rather different manners. The Orchard NEIPA is a NEIPA with a twist, one that takes the shape of Norwegian yeast kveik, the super-speedy fermentation wizard. Poured into your glass, it looks like the Snowballs you might enjoy at Christmas (if you lived in a different era or are my wife).

Citrus aromas dominate, with a fair bit of grassiness in there too, while it's less full and sweet on the palate than your eyes might have you believe, with a character that's instead akin to green, unripened fruit, enlivened with juice squeezed from young oranges and lemons. The kveik adds a stewed element to proceedings, with a dry, grippy bitterness completing the scene.

As for Mango Sweetart, the precursor to a series of Sweetart sours, imagine tearing open a mango and smothering it all over your face. There's some lacto-derived tartness on the palate too but, essentially, if you like mango, smother away. If not, run for the hills.

James Smith