The first BiR of 2018 brings a brand new brewery to the site. Green Bench Brewing Company prides themselves on being the first microbrewery in St. Petersburg, Florida. Turbid is their New England IPA series in which they rotate hop and yeast varieties with each batch. This one in particular was Turbid 6, which checked in at 6.5% ABV and used Galaxy, Simcoe, and Azacca hops. It pours a solid gold color, and mine wasn't hazy, which is unusual for the NE IPA style. Flavor-wise, I found it to be very balanced, with a fair amount of malt combined with a juicy mouthfeel and flavor notes, notes which also included a hint of pine and a very mild bitterness. This beer also brings a medium-full body. While I've certainly developed an appreciation for the typical IPA over the years, I'm not really a hop bomb lover. I tend to prefer some of the IPA variants (American IPAs, English IPAs, New England) to the straight up IPA style. As a result, I found this beer to be quite enjoyable.

Next up is Lancaster, SC's Benford Brewing Company and Mama's Mango Milkshake. Also a New England IPA, this one brewed with mango. Coming in at 8% ABV, it plays pretty much as you would expect for style, including the hazy copper/burnt orange color with plenty of particulate in the glass. I don't have a great sense of smell, but the namesake mango was prevalent in the aroma, which also included a bit of orange, as well. Flavor notes included the expected mango, along with overall tropical greens, and maybe a bit of pine (though, that may have just been some of my interpretation of the greens). I was expecting a bit of a sweeter beer, but the low sweetness didn't bother me, personally. It's quite hoppy and brings a lot of hop bite that hangs around the back of the throat. The flavors and clean and intense, which tends to make it a little more of a sipper than a full-throated drinker.