Bits & Bobs
Reuben's Brews

Pours a clear golden color with a small creamy head and a bit of lacing. Aroma is tropical & citrus + other botanicals. Taste has a good malt backbone a nice hop bitterness. Very good old school IPA beer. BOD 12-22-2025

 

1782
Bits and Bobs
Reuben's Brews
IPA
ABV: 7%
Date: 15 Mar 2022
The last few Reuben beers that I have consumed, I have enjoyed. I thought, what the heck, and try this one. I used a pint glass to serve in; 44 degrees is the temperature. The pour created a frothy and creamy two-fingered head. The somewhat quick dissipation left bits of lacing on the glass. Charting the color around SRM 6, a golden yellow. The clarity is clear with a few carbonation bubbles coming from the bottom.
Nosing the beer, I smell citrus, pine, grapefruit, mangos, pineapple, wheat, and lightly toasted malts. Smelling the glass a few times, I detect herbal, grass, and subtle fruity sweetness.
Tasting the beer, I taste citrus, pineapple, peaches, mangos, passionfruit, pineapple, wheat, lightly toasted malts, herbal, grassy, and fruity sweetness.
The mouthfeel is astringent and finishes crisp and a tad dry. The body is medium and has medium-plus carbonation.
I think the hop combination is a bit too much. I find this beer a bit overwhelming. The malt backbone is firm and could have a bit more hops. Overall a solid IPA; I would drink it again.

 

12oz can, clear pale body with a fluffy white head. Traditional nose leans West-Coast with its grapefruit/citrus notes and impressions of resiny pine on the palate and malt backbone. Crisp and clean and moderately bitter. Fairly straight-forward, not hugely impressive but not a poor execution either.

Taster at Growler Guys. Golden pour, razor thin head. Aroma is citrusy, orange peel. Taste brings the pine, blend of classic and hazy hops, with a light body and mild bitterness.

really tasty stuff, latest edition i am sure, clear and bright, bitter and classic, but distinct on the hop side too, fruity without being a juice bomb, refined to a high degree too, lighter than it seems like it should be to drink, and a really simple malt base that must include some wheat, solid and approachable, i am stoked to have these guys in boise now, they fit in well and offer something the locals here do not. nice clarity here, a bright golden yellow pour, an inch of white head, looks lovely. the aroma here is at first pine forward, then orange and grapefruit pith, and finally sweeter tropical fruit to go with the late bitterness, nice evolution from start to finish, pretty full spectrum, and the grain is dry and clean to me. the flavor is great, i taste some light pineapple and melon underneath more obvious citrus and spruce, and this is bitter more than just in the finish, earlier on too, and rather intense at that. light spiciness from the hops exacerbates it as it warms, but i get clean lemon and tangerine hints too. very flavorful and with just enough balance from the grain, which is lighter in terms of body, stays dry, and offers just a little counterpoint to all the hops. tidy and well made beer overall, almost refreshing to drink on, modern but still west coast, bravo!

 

Picked up a sixer from The Market at Birch Bay on6.7.21 for $11.99. Canned 2.15.21; consumed over several days between 6.7.21 and 6.10.21.

Beer poured a cold haze gold with an okay head. Opened a little flat but i believe cold stored in The Market's Beer Cave so it could be one of those sensitive beers.

Nose was a nice mix of tropical, citrus, and herbal hops but nothing super good.

Taste was a typical pale malt IPA base with kind of a mish mash of herbal, tropical, and citrus hops. Finishes with a solid hop bite; 6/10 on my scale.

Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied and not overly refreshing or smooth.

Overall i liked to beer as it is solid!

 

12oz can dated 2/4/21 poured into a Teku on 2/26/21.

Pours 1" of white head. Pale golden color, slightly translucent.

Aromas of grapefruit, citrus, mango, biscuit, and cracker.

Taste follows the nose with some slight bittering in the finish.

Medium-bodied and smooth mouthfeel. A little effervescent with low astringency.

Delicious IPA that is hop-forward in the tropical fruit direction. Very drinkable and reminiscent of Georgetown's Bodhizafa IPA. Smooth!

One of a sixer, packaged 12/16/20. Reuben makes some quality brews already, the crickey ipa and porter are great. This one pours a pineapple yellow, much like the can. A tall white fluffy head forms and remains. Carbonation visible. Hazy. Woah, much sulfur on the nose, nearly cat piss. A little sweetness and fruit acidity of guava or papaya. "Green" fruit. On the palate, way more floral notes with added kiwi. The sulfur is reduced from the nose, and gentler hops arise. There is a malt backbone, but not too pronounced. I was worried the smell would ruin this brew, but it taste dandy. Quenching, wet, and slightly tropical. The mouthfeel is medium-heavy and a bit sticky at 7abv and hazy. Carbonation is in the middle.
Citrus here, stone fruit there.. and always present bitterness, this brew nailed the stronger American IPA trend. The nose was so jarring, however, that it knocks the experience. Tastes alone was fine, but the preluding cat urine hurt. There ae surely more complex IPAs out there, but this is a solid choice if you like a little more acidity.

 

 

2020 Release. Received from @woemad in a BIF. The can had no label and the canning date wasn't indicated. Poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass. It pours a dark honey color with copper hues and a huge, long-lasting, thick, creamy head that is a site to behold. It's quite effervescent with myriad tiny bubbles ascending the glass. The nose opens with sweet, bready malt and notes of tangerine, cantaloupe, honey, and grassy herbs. It opens with tart citrus and fairly bitter hops but as the glass warms a bit there is more honey and stone fruit. It has thick, creamy mouth feel and seems less carbonated than at first. And at 7% ABV it drinks easily. Overall, Bits & Bobs isn't a typical West Coast IPA. The herbal honey notes play well against the citrus and bitter, biting hops.

 

12oz can (packaged on 1/16/20) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a clean, clear medium-light gold color with a half-inch of white head that had low retention and lacing.

Citrus hops were at the front of the nose, with some modern "frooty" notes in the background. the malts were soft, and no apparent yeast.

The citrusness of the hops dominated the tongue, while some frootiness was apparent in the middle.

The body was a fairly typical medium light, smooth, and had a semi-dry finish.

Drinkability was nice, I drank several cans.

Overall, a very nice, yet fairly typical, IPA. Worth a shot if you see it.

 

 

Had on tap at Bulldog Saloon Lynnwood, WA