Bandit IPA
Raccoon River Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A-Orangish amber with a small off-white head. Reduced to a small cap that left behind spotty lacing.

S-Faint sweet malts and a hint of light citrus hops.

T-Nice livley citrus flavours of grapefruit and lemon dances on the palate. Much better in the flavour profle than in the aroma. Nice sweet malty backbone supports well.

M-Medium body with a good finsihing crispness and lingering hop bitterness. hich worked well with the citrus.

D-Solid...nothing crazy, but a well done, tasty, crsip American IPA. Not a super geeked out hop head beer but certainly something that can be enjoyed in multiple pints.

Brownish orange in hue, smallish off white head served about one inch, dissipates rather quickly to a thin cap.

Decently hoppy, probably mixing American and English hops since I'm getting both fruity citrics as well as an earthier quality.

Good amount of caramel malt present, keeping things just chewy enough. I take back the English hops conjecture, and I'm going with either hard water or an English ale yeast to explain the British quality. Lots of citrics, but not too bitter at all (some might say not enough..)

Middle of the road mouthfeel seems about right for a middle of the road American pale ale....I mean, IPA. You'll have to forgive the confusion, since IPA has been co-opted so forcefully by American craft brewers. This would put a "bitter beer face" on a few British pub-goers, but barely registers on a seasoned American beer advocate. Either way, it's definitely my pick at RR and wonderfully complements free pool on Monday nights.

This had a thick, bone-white head with good effervescence and decent retention. I noted very good clarity in this light-copper colored ale. It was clear, but not Nebraska clear. The nose was lightly hoppy and the mouthfeel was medium. I experienced a good hop explosiveness on the palate with the finish smoothing out from a nice malt balance at the end.

My friend, Buckley, had this on tap on the kegerator for his birthday. Surprisingly very good. Reminds me a lot of Goose Island Honker's Ale. Pours to a nice golden amber color, leaning more towards the amber side of the spectrum. Huge head and equally impressive retention. Good carbonation to back it up.

The smell is good. Nice mild hops aroma. Seems like a mix of fruity American hops and British hops. A light caramel malty background behind the hops.

The taste is good. The hops hit up front along with the caramel malt. I don't know about an IPA, but this is damn good. More like a hoppy pale or a strong bitter.

The body is very creamy. Really helps to accentuate the hops flavors without bringing too much of a bitterness. I could and did drink the shit out of this all night.

Medium orange-amber with a small, cream-colored head that was a thick film upon arrival and soon disappeared altogether. Minimal lace. The nose was very nearly AWOL. Even though it was pathetically weak, I did pick up a muted citric hoppiness that was rather nice.

Bandit was a pretty good brew, all things considered. The flavor was much stronger than the nose and an enjoyable flavor it was. Hard to go wrong with Cascade and Centennial. The grapefruits and lemons hoppiness was paramount and there was enough malt to pull it all together. I also picked up an appley flavor which worked well with the citrus.

The degree of bittering was barely sufficient for hopheads while being friendly enough so that casual drinkers should have nothing to fear. The bitterness seemed to increase throughout each mouthful and throughout the course of the pint (that is, with warming). The body was just a shade lighter than medium with a barely noticeable level of carbonation.

Bandit is a solid, drinkable IPA that, if the truth were known, is closer to the APA style than the stated one. It fell well short of great, but good was plenty good enough for me on this day.

A copper color with a thin head. Like many "IPAs" I've had lately, there was not much nose here. I think brewpubs just like to stick IPA on the board sometimes.

There was some nice lacing and a hint of sweetness. Overall taste had good balance of malt and hops. The finish echoed that balance.

Very drinkable. This was my favorite of the 4-5 offerings I sampled.

Okay, this is a good "starter IPA" for those who are not really big hop heads. It was a dark gold color brew, with not much head. It got a bit better as it warmed up, and definitely would benefit from being on cask. The floral aroma came out after waiting for it to warm up a bit. It was very pleasant, but a bit thin in body. There was not very much bitterness in it from the hops. I am a hop head in general, but try to be as objective as possible. If you need your hops to be extreme, then do not drink this with that expectation, however, if you just want a nice gently hopped ale, give it a try.

After taking a sip, my first impression was I couldn't tast anything at all except bitter and then I noticed a faint lingering impression flavor in the aftertaste that wasn't all that great. Now IPA should be balanced toward the bitter side but there really needs to be some malt there too. Also, if your going to make a beer that is agressively bitter then it needs to have more aroma and flavor hops added later in the boil to smooth and round out that bitterness for a better experience. This might be one of the worts brewpub beers I've had.

Clear, tawny-gold hue, underdeveloped bubbly-white head, fair retention. Served too cold, the nose is really hampered. Only the hops are noticeable in the bouquet and I really had to work hard to notice them. The palate is not all that tasty, the malt is clean and light, and the hops don’t bite, not much bitterness. Medium-light body, thin, little carbonation, rather clean finish. It is drinkable but nothing I’d want to drink all night. Not a very adventurous IPA.