Good News/Bad News

"For a quart of Ale is a dish for a king" -W.Shakespeare

Ever heard of a beer ranger?  Me neither.  Sounds like a cool job title, if not a cool job. I guess any job that has the word beer in it would be an acceptable (if not totally gnarly dude!) vocation.  New Belgium employs beer rangers, who travel the country making sure stores have what they need and bars clean their tap lines every 2 weeks, in a "selfless dedication to keep taps flowing and shelves stocked". They are a New Belgium "ambassador of good beer, good cheer and champion of quality assurance".  Sounds quite noble, almost Knights of the Round Table-like. The Fort Collins, Colorado brewery has chosen to dedicate their first ever leap into the deep pool of hoppiness that is India Pale Ale's after these hard-working defenders of all things New Belgium. I'll let them give the specifics:

While IPA is not technically a Belgian style, it was recently agreed upon that a hoppy offering from New Belgium was in order. Simcoe, Chinook and Cascade hops lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for dry-hopping. We're talking three pounds of hops per barrel resulting in a bright, citrus blast of hops riding a substantial, malty base. Pale and dark caramel malts bring out the hop aroma and flavor from start to finish. Ranger IPA offers 70 IBUs and is 6.5% ABV.

The bad news is that New Belgium won't be releasing the year-round Ranger IPA until February 1st. The good news is that we just received their new Folly sampler packs which, in addition to having 3 of their next (also as yet unreleased for this year) seasonal, Mighty Arrow Pale Ale, contains 3 Ranger IPA's. Along with Trippel, Abbey and Mothership Wit, Ranger will now make up their Explore series, which is given different, simpler labeling.  A good way, methinks, for NB to get their house in order.