New Belgium Ranger IPA

Brewed By: New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado

Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) from New Belgium's Spring Sampler from Jewel-Osco in Chicago, Illinois; 2012

Style/ABV: India Pale Ale, 6.5%

Tonight I am continuing with New Belgium's spring sampler pack thingy. It's been beyond solid with the very enjoyable Dig, the balanced and interesting 1554, and of course the old standby, Fat Tire. I actually have not reviewed Fat Tire for this blog, but I have taken a shot at it on my old review Excel Sheet. I'll probably do a blind review of Fat Tire and see how my past and future scores stack up. I also reviewed the Ranger IPA in the past, today's beer, so I'm going to dig up my old score and see how it stacks up compared to the score I give the beer today. Before we proceed:

New Belgium is based out of Fort Collins, and opened in 1991 when founder Jeff Lebesch took his home-brewing into the commercial world. For reference, New Belgium is the thrid-largest craft brewery in the United States. You can read more about New Belgium if you check out their website.

Ranger IPA is a pretty acclaimed IPA within beer circles. This is a bargain beer that has awesome flavors and great balance. If you check out New Belgium's Ranger IPA page, you will see that this beer is brewed with Cascade (citrus), Chinook (floral/citrus), and Simcoe (fruity) hops. The beer is also dry hopped with Cascade hops to add some nice hop aromas. In addition, the beer is brewed with pale and dark caramel malts, packs a pretty impressive 70 IBUs, and clocks in at 6.5% ABV. Simcoe hops are awesome, and have a pretty distinct flavor profile. You see Simcoe used in a lot of big American IPA-style beers. Simcoe has some strong flavors, and is the "cat pee" hop. I haven't really tried any single hop beers to isolate flavors, but Simcoe is pretty easy to pull out.

New Belgium Ranger IPA

The pour reveals a clear, golden-amber beer with moderate amounts of carbonation. If this beer did not have a head, you might mistake this for a Lager. There are 3-fingers worth of foamy, fluffy head. The head has big and small bubbles, and it is a mix of thick foam and dish soap bubbles. The head is just a touch off-white. There is lacing on the glass, and the carbonation bubbles are on the small side. This beer does not look like a 70 IBU monster in a glass.

However, this beer smells like a 70 IBU monster in a glass. There are a ton of fruity hop notes on the nose, pine, and some hints of supporting, sweet malts. I'm picking up orange, grapefruit, tangerine, honey, pine (but NOT forest), a touch of earth, and that defining Simcoe note. This is more of a fruity smelling beer than a herbal and earthy one. There is definitely some hop oil or resin on the nose.

My impression upon the first sip is: hoppy, bitter, oily, and balanced by a touch of darker caramel. This is a pleasant but bold IPA for sure, with some huge hop flavors and a pretty big 70 IBUs. This is a bit more earthy and herbal than the aroma would have you believe (and that makes sense: the super sweet citrus notes are often more evident in an IIPA). I'm getting pine, oily and slightly resinous peach, orange rind, lemon skin/rind, grapefruit, dark caramel (probably the result of the bitterness), and a very bitter back end with dryness.

This starts creamy, smooth, and moderately carbonated, with some fresh hops notes. The mouthfeel on this is medium-full and slightly oily. The finish is bitter and dry. Drinkability is good at 6.5%, but I would rather enjoy one or two of these, versus sessioning them. Palate depth is okay, maybe a touch thin; but complexity is moderate to high. The front end is smooth, and soft, with some hints of sweet hops; this rolls into bitterness, pine, oily peach, orange/lemon rind and malt; the back end is hints of malt and a bitter and drying finish that in my palate tastes like grapefruit. Pretty nice.

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 85%

 

I consulted my Excel Sheet that I used to keep track of the beer I drank before I started this blog. I gave the Ranger IPA an 80% back when I originally reviewed it. I wrote that review almost one year ago, which is a testament to how far I have come as a beer drinker. I'm not super concerned with the percentage score, which I stated a long time ago when I created my scoring system. This is an Above-Average beer, and that is all you really need to know. 

Really, the price, availability, balance, big hop flavors, and big bitterness really bring this beer home for me. This is a pretty easy beer to drink, and all the flavors line up. The only thing that falls a tad short is that the palate depth on this beer stretches a tad thin. But otherwise, who am I to complain? New Belgium have crafted a dynamite IPA, and this could easily be a standby or go-to for the style. I actually would recommend this beer for people new to beer. This beer is a great example of a balanced IPA, and this beer makes great use of those Simcoe hops. Highly recommended and delicious.