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I’m out with my family for dinner tonight and was ready for a big beer. Fortunately, they had this freshly tapped beer to satisfy my craving for something hoppy.
Location: On tap at Joe’s Station House Pizza Pub in Normal, IL.
Numbers: 6.5% ABV, 70 IBUs, 14.6 OG, 2 TG, 185 Calories
Ingredients: Hops: Chinook, Simcoe, Cascade; Malts: Pale, C-120.
Appearance & Aroma: The beer had a Soapy head on it which left some very nice lacing. It was clear and amber colored with a piney and citrusy hop aroma.
Taste & Feel: It had a crisp mouthfeel and a light medium body. There was a bit of a tingly, somewhat sharp, hoppy bitter taste/feel up front along with a decent amount of caramel like malt sweetness that came through more int he middle. The finish was a big, fresh, piney, resin-like, and citrusy hop bitterness in the finish which hits it’s fullness about 10 seconds into the aftertaste and lasts for a bit.
Food Pairing: This one went well with the pizza we had, but I think it would go with almost any type of solid, flavorful bar food, like burgers, or fried foods. The big piney-citrus hop flavors would cut through almost any of these to provide a clean, fresh, hoppy flavor between bites.
Overall Impression: I was looking for something hoppy and bold and definitely found it with this Ranger IPA. I really enjoyed the fresh, crisp and somewhat complex hoppy flavors, mixing the piney-resin and citrus hop flavors. While it easily leaned toward the hoppy side of the scale, there was a good caramel flavor malt backbone to it as well. Overall, I thought this was a good hoppy beer, and its pretty widely available, so it might be an easy one to find the next time I have a big hoppy beer craving.
My Rating: 
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