The Tropical Ferret IPA (Waitrose) By @SpectreUK

I must admit that I don't know much about Ferrets. The one piece of information I do know is that for some reason some people like to put them down their trousers (or 'pants' for our American readers). I imagine this offering from the Badger Brewery, The Tropical Ferret IPA, is based on a Ferret that stowed away in someone's trousers and found themselves on a beach in California….

…. Apparently, so the bottle states, the Ferret in question had a surf off the shores of the Pacific West gathering hops on the way to California, and then brewed this beer with those hops back in Dorset. This 4.6% in volume The Tropical Ferret Indian Pale Ale mentions 'Big waves of passion fruit & mango flavours' on the bottle. I haven't been a fan of either fruity flavour previously in other beers, so I'm a bit concerned by that. Amarillo and Centennial hops were used in the brewing, so it can't be all bad, can it?

On opening The Tropical Ferret IPA there was certainly a heavy tropical fruitiness from the brew inside. The smell was strong on passion fruit and then mango, with the sweet pale malts at the back of the aroma. Almost amber in colour this IPA tastes pretty bitter and fruity to start with, and the tropical citrus hops just keep on giving right into the aftertaste, with the sweet pale malts poking through on the odd occasion to remind me that they were there. This is a very tasty beer indeed, refreshing and full of tropical fruity flavours complementing the baking sun outside. Very nice indeed.