So, I’ve been pretty busy you see. I haven’t bought any packaged beer for a while, and I’m trying to drink down my reserves, especially beers sitting in the back of my garage beer fridge that I’ve never tried before. Tonight’s winner in that department is Jackie O’s Mandala Single Hop Imperial India Pale Ale.

Jackie O’s makes Mandala in several varieties. The bottom of my can is stamped Simcoe. I’ll confess I don’t know what a Mandala is, but Wikipedia does:

A mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe. In common use, "mandala" has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.

The other interesting fact about my can of Mandala is that it has been in my beer fridge for a while. It is stamped 09-16-16, which I assume is the canning date. So, it has over a year and a half of age on it. The beer does have an alcohol content of 9% by volume, which helps with that. It has a whopping 110 IBUs.

Jackie O’s Mandala Single Hop Imperial India Pale Ale Simcoe pours to a hazy orange amber color with a thick head of cauliflower foam and a citrus and tropical fruit nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a medium maltiness to it with bright orange citrus and an herbal earthy character, too. The beer finishes long, dry and bitter with warming alcohol.

Excellent, I am really enjoying with age. Sometimes hanging onto a beer too long doesn’t work, but this is a case where it did.

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