Review: Malty National Manitobudz NEIPA

Thanks Greg over at FlatlandBEER for sending this my way! I've been meaning to review this beer for a very long time here. My buddy Ben & I first visited Malty National Brewing Corp in Regina back in early April 2016, an entire week after they initially opened. Ben and I were visiting breweries in the region to get a sense of what makes a brewery tick and what sells well at a brewery, mainly as he was planning on opening on opening up a brewery in the near future (he still is at this point, I'll write about it more when it happens). We were impressed by their beers and Malty National was Ben's initial inspiration to start home brewing, becoming one of the best home brewers in the country. One day he visited Malty National to help out however he can on a batch of their beer, the beer would end up becoming what's known as Manitobudz, a New England-style IPA. Ben picked me up a couple growlers full of the beer back in 2017 and it was always a treat. 

Here's what I wrote about the beer in 2017:

Always impressed by Malty National. This IPA has a tropical, juicy, yeasty aroma - a bit of pineapple, apricot and grapefruit, hint of pine. The appearance is clear yellow straw with a moderate snow white head on top. The taste is sweet, tropically, a bit doughy from the yeast and just a tad amount of spiced bitterness at the very end. The flavours are reminiscent of the aroma. Kind of reminiscent to Driftwood’s Fat Tug but more doughy and more tropical zest to it.

Now it's 2020 and the beer is back! Now it's time for me to re-visit the beer! 6.2% ABV

Appearance: Very hazy IPA with a thick, bright orange body to it, very juicy appearance. Light amount of carbonation in the body and a finger and a half thickness of snow white foam on top. The head diminishes pretty gradually to leave behind a good amount of lacing.

Aroma: Oh my goodness, this is sweet and tropical, VERY orange juice forward. Quite often when I have a NEIPA it's more yeasty than juicy but this one is more juicy than yeasty. There's also a hint of mango at the end, light floral hops. Citrus galore!

Taste: Very tropical with notes of orange, a hint of pineapple, lemon and a bit of mango. The sweetness lingers a brief moment, but then you get the typical yeastiness you get in a juicy/NEIPA-forward beer, a heavy murkiness on the palate that's a bit reminiscent to sourdough, a bit gritty and a bit doughy. Leafy hop presence, decent amount of sweetness. Mouthfeel is slight dry with a bit of a tingling from the hops, while the aftertaste is a tad pine-like bitterness as the end with a hint of orange juice.

Overall Thoughts: Definitely improved since what I've had in 2017, it's hazy and juicy as heck. Too bad that this isn't available in Manitoba whenever it comes out, it'd sell really well here! Juicy!