It’s a beautiful day for the beach, the sun is out, the temps are hot and the water is refreshingly cool. To complete that refreshment, I settled on a pair of fruity hopped IPA’s for this duel. First up is a Next Coast IPA from Goose Island Brewing, which is described as “big, bracing, piney hop flavors meet a tropical bouquet of Nugget, Citra, and Mosaic hops. There’s a balanced bitterness that blends seamlessly into the light to medium body.” Sounds worth trying to me!
Up against the Next Coast is a new brewer and beverage to me in the Mango IPA from Unveiled Brewing. A fairly mysterious offering here as it was very difficult to find out anything about this beer in a number of spots I’d normally search. I’m not sure if I like it enough yet to keep digging, so let’s just get into it!
HopDuel Survey
| Better label | Goose Island Next Coast IPA |
| Better aroma | Goose Island Next Coast IPA |
| Better taste | Unveiled Brewing Mango IPA |
| Better finish | Unveiled Brewing Mango IPA |
| Winner | Unveiled Brewing Mango IPA |
Tell us about it
The Goose Island Next Coast IPA is a really cool can design. From first glance, it’s a simple silver can, not unlike a silver bullet, but the subtle gradient and accents in the type treatment are really cool. It’s a very sleek can that, once cracked open, reveals a nice piney, fruity hopped aroma, which lead to a win in each category.
When it came to taste and finish, Unveiled Brewing’s Mango IPA took over. Both beers were nicely fruited, but the mango is very unique and well-suited to the beer, giving it a very interesting taste and finish. The Next Coast IPA was fresh and fruity through and through, where the Mango IPA has a nice bitterness to it that I long for in my IPA’s. In the finish, the mango kicks in and cuts that bitterness down for a nice, refreshing surprise. In the end, two interesting beers that are both worthy of the purchase. I could see a number a good number of people on either side of voting in this one.
HopDuel 