Duncan's Pawpaw Party - Pawpaw and Mango Smoothie IPA

I wasn't too sure about the idea of taking big fruity hops that give off mango and pawpaw flavours, and then adding actual mango and pawpaw. In theory, I think I'm still not quite down with it, and I'd never brew this kind of beast myself, but to my surprise it's actually really yum. Maybe it's my inexperience with hazy/NEIPAs but the big huge fruity flavours without bitterness from the hops just went really well with some bona fide fruit that gave a slight thickness and juiciness that the average hazy doesn't quite reach. I guess if there's a spectrum from normal IPA (0) to actual fruit juice (10), the average hazy sits at 4-7 and this guy sits about 8-9. Also, I do like mangoes (Rodney Rude anyone?). There was a tiny unpleasant hop plant bitterness that snuck through (not the nice kind that you get from boiling hops, but the flavour of eating a hop pellet straight [come on all home brewers have done it at least once]). It was tiny and almost not there but it just stung me 2-3 times while I was sipping/guzzling away.

Overall, she was good, she was real good. And I'd drink it again (and again and again and again [green fields of France]).

Brewery: Duncan's

Region: Kapiti (Wellington)

ABV: 6.3%

Style: NEIPA/Hazy IPA (I can't bring myself to write pawpaw and Mango smoothie IPA as a style, bit I guess that's actually the truth)

Wife check: "Oh I didn't think I'd like this but it actually tastes like a mango smoothie!"