Does anyone else eat an orange, then go from room to room squeezing the strips of peel to spritz that sweet, sweet orange oil aroma throughout the house?
Just me?
Well, have a try sometime. Smelling Bridge Road’s NEeD IPA Vol. 4 is like spritzing the peel of five different orange-coloured citrus fruits over the house (no lime, lemon or ruby grapefruit here). In truth, the brewers only added one citrus fruit - tangerine - but paired it with a hop bill that works to boost the citrus quality while also balancing it out with some earthy pine - Citra, Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Columbus and Warrior.
The taste is a smooth bitter river of citrus zest and resin; it’s like the elements were added just upstream but only get around to coalescing once they enter the mouth. Big grapefruit flavours carried on a current of rushing malt brings those old school West Coast vibes back, and all the bitterness gets caught in a swirling eddy at the back of the tongue.
Mick Wust
Published June 28, 2021 2021-06-28 00:00:00