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Metalman has never really been one of those new-beer-every-week sort of breweries but they've been making hay with the Galactic Voyager series lately. Today's IPAs are the sixth and seventh, by my count.

Haze is still king of the style, and Absolute Magnitude is a light one at just 5.3% ABV. There's a relative thinness to both the haze and the mouthfeel here. A vague orangey quality in the aroma ramps itself up in the flavour to become a lovely burst of tangy mandarin and satsuma. The thinness pays off in making it fantastically thirst-quenching and really built for the pint glass more than the 33cl can. While it's not especially complex, there is a pleasing bitter bite in the finish, to balance all that juice. It wasn't surprising to learn that Mandarina Bavaria is among the hops used, but what really shocked me is that it's in there with both Sabro and Sorachi Ace. Normally the pith and coconut from either of these would be unmissable, but miss it I did. Knowing it's there, I did get a little of Sorachi's pith in the finish, but it's unusually restrained. Regardless, this is a quality little number and one I hope will still be around in the summer when its refreshment powers will be most useful.

They've invented an entirely new style for the next one: Late Heavy Bombardment is a "Rather Hoppy IPA". RHIPAs, it turns out, are 6% ABV and quite darkly hazy. The aroma is sweet and citric, suggesting orangeade or cordial. Mosiac, Idaho 7 and Hüll Melon are the hops, and I expected something more tropical from that, perhaps unreasonably, but this is a little olde worlde instead. Interestingly, even though it's only a tad stronger than the above it provides plenty to chew on and is much more a sipper than a quaffer. Citrus intensifies on tasting, and it wears a sharp pithy bitterness up front, where it leans almost to grass and green veg. The orange is still there but this time it's a big and hefty jaffa rather than a cutesy mandarin. A dry gritty roughness finishes it on a slightly severe note. This was all a little too serious and bitter for my liking. 33cl was plenty.

I'm fascinated by how two broadly similarly-specced beers can provide such different experiences. The brewery doesn't tell us anything about the yeasts used, but maybe that's a factor. Normally, old-fashioned punchy bitterness doesn't bother me, but the spritzy breeziness of Absolute Magnitude was my preference here.