ranger ipa...

I've been trying all kinds of new beer because now I'm brewing it. So far beer that I've loved: dos equis, sweetwater blue, blue moon seasonal spring blounde ale, and Mich. Amber bock wasn't too bad either. Now beer that I hated: ranger ipa... Tastes like somebody mixed up the ingredients and put 10lbs of hops instead of grains!

Whats funny is I don't care for any of those beers you mentioned but I really enjoy Ranger. Everyones tastes are different!

That is funny I mean I'm young so I've always drank bud and natural light like it was going outta style. Now I want more flavor, but I just didn't feel like it was balanced. I didn't think I was going to like the amber bock but it was actually pretty good. My favorite of all of them is probably the seasonal blue moon and the sweetwater being a close 2nd.

Give it time. The more you try, the more you will open up to bolder and increasingly complex beers.. that's a great excuse to go beer shopping

Ya I know! I also tried hefeveizen I probably butchered that spelling. It wasn't bad but had a kinda weird flavor. I have a question so that overwhelming hop flavor is that from late additions or ones that go the full boil?

I hear you. I am not a fan of hoppy beers. IMO, they are not complex, not bold, just crappy.

Try Fullers 1845. That is a great and complex beer.

I couldn't taste any maltiness just HOPS!

I hear you...I tried a Ranger a week or so ago. I don't understand the hoppy beer fad. Maybe people like making these because they can hide the flaws under the massive amounts of hops.

it's funny, none of these posts have the recipe in them

actually it is the issue of BYO where they did a spread on New Belguim brewery.

If I recall it is a low starting OG for an IPA, like 1.059, basic malt bill with a good percetage of sugar like 10-20%, mashed super low.

and all the classics for the hops, chinook simcoe and amarillo

There......... it is a good beer too.

smakudwn said:

Whats funny is I don't care for any of those beers you mentioned but I really enjoy Ranger. Everyones tastes are different!

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I really like Ranger, too, and the price is right! It was $6.99 a sixer at H.E.B. yesterday.

I can't stand any of the beers mentioned in the first post: dos equis, sweetwater blue, blue moon seasonal spring blounde ale, and Mich. Amber bock. Those are all just light macros that I just can't quite stomach.

Funny how different we are!

(I'm moving this thread out of the "commercial review" area, and into general beer talk, as there is no review in here.)

I guess I put it in the wrong place, sorry. I don't honestly see how you can drink it, I tried and I just couldn't do it. I also don't see how someone could not like those beer, but hey that's why there's so much to choose from cause everyones different.

I think hops are more popular among homebrewers because they are the only way you can directly influence the taste of a beer when you first start. after years of grain brewing, you can pick up nuances and know exactly what mash temperatures and yeast strains will do, but at first, you know that if you put x amount cascade hops in at a certain time, it will taste the same every time. For that reason, I think home brewers get more into hoppy beers. I am not much of an IPA drinker, but I like IPA's that are hopped correctly like Ranger or Dogfish Head. I definitely don't want it to taste like a mouthful of dry hops though.

I am a malt guy firstly and secondly an Hop guy. But Ranger for some reason, (though i like it) gives me a massive headache after the second pint.

Its happened 3 times that I drank it and only it, yet ended up with an ugly head ache.

On another note I remember the days I thought dos equis, bluemoon, new castle, and sam adams where the best beers ever. Now they are good beers, but I was completely ablivious to craft beer at that point. Keep trying beer!

I love hops thus I love ranger. If you didn't like ranger, stay away from ruination, your pallet would likely never recover.

I like beers from all over the spectrum (and lately I too have been stepping out of my beer comfort zone to try new varieties), but beers with lots of late hop additions and dry hopping tend to be my favorites at the moment. I brew all over too so my pallet doesn't tire from one particular style.

I'm a hop head, so the first time I opened a Ranger a smile came across my face. I do agree that it lacks maltiness. A store on my route home has a limited beer supply that includes Ranger, so I still get a sixer once a month, usually on a Fri before I hit the golf course. 3-4 do a nice job on the golf course

I like hops and IPA's, but to be honest, I don't care for Ranger at all. Just not the right malt / hop profile my taste buds want I guess. Honestly I'm not the hugest fan of New Belgium's products, so it didn't surprise me that I didn't like it.

RegionalChaos said:

I like hops and IPA's, but to be honest, I don't care for Ranger at all. Just not the right malt / hop profile my taste buds want I guess. Honestly I'm not the hugest fan of New Belgium's products, so it didn't surprise me that I didn't like it.

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Agreed, its all hops and little maltiness.

I also love hops. Its not just the bitterness its the different flavors and aromas that different varieties can impart. Open up a Two-hearted ale and give her a whiff...awesome! I don't see hop'd up beers as a fad or as covering up off flavors. I usually alternate between brewing hoppier beers and maltier beers. The hoppy ones are gone before I know it and the malty ones seem like the keg is neverending and I can't wait to brew up something with hops!

Its like hot sauce. I love the flavor that hot sauce gives food. I love different kinds of hot sauce and think they are suitable for different kinds of foods. I hate it when people who can't handle the heat or just don't like it tell me that I use it to cover up other flavors in the food I eat. I like it and think it is a part of the flavor of the food as a whole.

To each their own though. Brew IPAs if you like hops, brew malt monsters if you like malt and brew belgians if you hate good things I kid, I kid

When i started out on my journey into good beer, i was all malt. The darker, thicker, and maltier, the better. I may not necessarily like all beers now, but i appreciate them all for what they are. I love ipa's and barleywines both. I'm not a big fan of the esters in alot of the belgians, but not all of them are bad. I used not understand hop heads at all, but now i drink them with the best of them.

And for what it's worth....
Ranger:

8.25 lb 2 row pale
2 lb cane sugar
3 oz crystal 120
1 oz chinook (60 min)
.5 oz simco (30 min)
.75 oz cascade (15 min)
.5 oz cascade (0 min)
1.25 oz cascade dry hop
wyeast 1792, wyeast 1272, or whitelabs wlp051

og: 1.059 fg: 1.009 ibu: 70 srm: 7 abv: 6.4

mash at 148
90 minute boil
ferment 68 F
dry hop 7 days

I liked it more when it first came out but it wore on me quick. I still drink it now and then though.

Funny. I like Ranger, but thought it needed more hops. I actually just kegged an IPA using the same hops as Ranger, but twice as much.

I definitely find Ranger to be New Belgium's best offering (still trying all of them, I've had most), but then again I do love IPAs. In my opinion it's a very well balanced IPA, but then again in my opinion IPAs shouldn't be balanced at all with hops/malt.

Man I really gotta try some more beer types, I'm out-gunned here.

Yooper said:

I really like Ranger, too, and the price is right! It was $6.99 a sixer at H.E.B. yesterday.

I can't stand any of the beers mentioned in the first post: dos equis, sweetwater blue, blue moon seasonal spring blounde ale, and Mich. Amber bock. Those are all just light macros that I just can't quite stomach.

Funny how different we are!

(I'm moving this thread out of the "commercial review" area, and into general beer talk, as there is no review in here.)

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Sweetwater ain't no macro, Yoop. They are an incredible regional brewery based in Atlanta. Try some of their other offerings, Blue is definitely far and way their worst beer. They just released a Citra-heavy IIPA that is to die for, it's called Border Hopper.

And, to get back to the original topic, Ranger was kind of boring to me. There are much better IPAs to be had. To the OP, hoppy beer is tough after drinking beer water AKA BMC. I can guarantee you will learn to love hops. Try some imperial IPAs, they tend to have a much stronger malt character, so the bitterness isn't as intense feeling. That's how I got hooked!

jbrookeiv said:

Sweetwater ain't no macro, Yoop. They are an incredible regional brewery based in Atlanta. Try some of their other offerings, Blue is definitely far and way their worst beer. They just released a Citra-heavy IIPA that is to die for, it's called Border Hopper.

And, to get back to the original topic, Ranger was kind of boring to me. There are much better IPAs to be had. To the OP, hoppy beer is tough after drinking beer water AKA BMC. I can guarantee you will learn to love hops. Try some imperial IPAs, they tend to have a much stronger malt character, so the bitterness isn't as intense feeling. That's how I got hooked!

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Yeah, Sweetwater is certainly a craft brewery. Sweetwater IPA ranks at the top of the list of American IPA's and the best in the Southeast US IMHO. It has the strong citrus hoppy aroma and maltiness to back it up.

coastwx said:

Yeah, Sweetwater is certainly a craft brewery. Sweetwater IPA ranks at the top of the list of American IPA's and the best in the Southeast US IMHO. It has the strong citrus hoppy aroma and maltiness to back it up.

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Agreed, Sweetwater IPA is definitely in my top 3 favorite beers of all time. And Blue is by far their worst offering, but I'd still call it drinkable.

I'm just sad they don't sell it anywhere out of the SE. I always make a point to pick some up when I visit NC to see my brother.

Alright I gotta try that sweetwater ipa. So you can't get it in the southeast? I'm in Georgia so I might be F'd.

I am a big big fan of Ranger IPA...I love the hoppiness to it. Someone mentioned it seemed like all hops and no malt, but I disagree. Do a side-by-side taste test with Sam Adams' Latitude 48 IPA...I feel like that one is all hops, and I think the hop combination is terrible. I don't like that one at all.

An added bonus to the Ranger IPA is how dadgum easy the labels come off (like all New Belgiums)...

yum Ranger!

jbrookeiv said:

Sweetwater ain't no macro, Yoop. They are an incredible regional brewery based in Atlanta. Try some of their other offerings, Blue is definitely far and way their worst beer. They just released a Citra-heavy IIPA that is to die for, it's called Border Hopper.

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coastwx said:

Yeah, Sweetwater is certainly a craft brewery. Sweetwater IPA ranks at the top of the list of American IPA's and the best in the Southeast US IMHO. It has the strong citrus hoppy aroma and maltiness to back it up.

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I meant that Blue was a macro-type swill. I LOVE their APA, even more than the IPA. We got that in Florida last year, and I really liked their beers except for that icky Blue crap. It wasn't Border Hopper, but I forget what the names of the beers were. I thought the APA was excellent.

BrewsClues said:

Alright I gotta try that sweetwater ipa. So you can't get it in the southeast? I'm in Georgia so I might be F'd.

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It's an Atlanta Brewery, so strange you don't find it in Ga. Around Raleigh, it's in almost every Grocery now. Use to be a little harder to find, but not now.

LBMikeB said:

Funny. I like Ranger, but thought it needed more hops. I actually just kegged an IPA using the same hops as Ranger, but twice as much.

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+1 on the ranger, I don't seem to get tired of it. What recipe did you use for your IPA?

Yooper said:

I meant that Blue was a macro-type swill. I LOVE their APA, even more than the IPA. We got that in Florida last year, and I really liked their beers except for that icky Blue crap. It wasn't Border Hopper, but I forget what the names of the beers were. I thought the APA was excellent.

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Their APA is called "420"

Sweetwater's IPA is awesome, their Sweet Georgia Brown is very nice. (i don't care for the blue, either - no fruit in my beer!)
and a shout out for the Ranger as well.

Hang Glider said:

Their APA is called "420"

Sweetwater's IPA is awesome, their Sweet Georgia Brown is very nice. (i don't care for the blue, either - no fruit in my beer!)
and a shout out for the Ranger as well.

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Yes, 420! Excellent APA- we downed more than a couple of six packs of that in our winter Florida trip!

glad to see the dominatrix back, granny!

Hang Glider said:

glad to see the dominatrix back, granny!

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Somehow it doesn't sound as hot as I intended when you put it that way!

Well I've seen blue and 420 in stores but don't recall seeing any more. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. But I am pretty far from Atl. I'm on the SE coast.

BrewsClues said:

Ya I know! I also tried hefeveizen I probably butchered that spelling. It wasn't bad but had a kinda weird flavor. I have a question so that overwhelming hop flavor is that from late additions or ones that go the full boil?

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Both. Its a high IBU beer (hop bitterness from 60 minute boiling) along with hop flavor (shorter boil duration).

Its actually a bit 'light' for the style (India Pale Ale).

All the beers you've mentioned are pretty low on the IBU scale, and are indeed 'balanced'. It does take time to develop a taste for highly hopped beer. I hated them a long time myself, and I still don't drink anything by Sierra Nevada except their brown ale (Tumbler).

I dig Ranger, and I"m actually doing an IPA this weekend.

So if 420 is the apa, what is the ipa?

I've found ranger to be one of the more palatable IPAs I've had. Lagunitas seemed to blow me away with the hoppiness it had, but I really enjoyed it.

You may try IPA from Southern Tier. I thought it was way too malty, but it may be more palatable for you.

Ranger is dry and it uses way less caramel/crystal malt than most IPAs as evidenced by its pale straw color. This lets the crisp American hops blast to the front. I didn't care for it when I tried a fresh keg a year ago because it tasted like I was chewing on hops with grassiness, but I've since grown to appreciate the dryness and the less aggressive crystal malt.