New Belgium Ranger IPA

Brewery: New Belgium Brewing Company
Beer: Ranger IPA, pint on draught
Style: American IPA
POP: Quenchers, Chicago IL
Price: $5

Don’t say Yelp never gave ya nothin’! The three other bearded, hearty beer drinkin’ amigos from my grad school class and I hopped the Fullerton bus over to Quenchers after class this Thursday to meet up with the Yelp Beer Appreciation Society for some libations.

After getting a particular Imperial Stout that was not very imperial, one of the ladies from the Yelp-tastic crew was kind enough to grab the bearded gentleman from New Belgium, who I now realize is a “Beer Ranger”. Dude had tasters of the New Belgium Ranger IPA, that, up until about four minutes before, I had no idea existed. As I was telling the group, I like pretty much everything that New Belgium brews top to bottom, even if it’s a style I’m not particularly into.

They say they use three different hop varieties in the Ranger IPA, but the piney ones come out the most. A good bit of citrus too, but I’m not getting any particularly floral hops. Either way, it’s one hell of a hop balance, and for 70 IBU’s, is quite smooth. As our friendly Beer Ranger kept mentioning, this is a very sessionable IPA. The finish is rather mild considering how hoppy as the beer is, and that’s where most of the flavor ends up.

The other good news that I learned from the New Belgium rep is that Chicagoland will soon be graced with New Belgium Trippel! Ounce for ounce, I feel this is one of the best trippels out there considering it’s about $9 a six-pack.

Final verdict: I’ll definitely buy it again.