Bandwagon
Four Saints Brewing Company

Bandwagon New England IPA is made in Asheboro, NC. (Small Town) but big beer!

Pours a tangerine color with fruit, banana, wheat, banana nut bread, pineapple on the nose. Taste isn't to hoppy but enough hops to wake up the taste buds. You can taste wheat as well in this beer. At 6.1% abv, you can taste a little alcohol but not strong.

This is a very good beer. If you're ever in Asheboro, definitely pick some up!

 

 

 

16oz can, no date...poured a hazy, orange true-to-style. Initial smell was of hoppy, grapefruity citrus. A nice malt back rounded out the hops leaving a creamesqe (sp?) mouthfeel. Well done Four Saints!

 

 

 

Appearance: Pours burnt orange in color with a finger of beige head; strands of lace linger

Smell: Papaya, caramel and some citrus

Taste: Papaya forward, with some melon tones building while underneath there is a caramel base that emerges; through the middle, flavors of apricot and some citrus add bitterness, but the finish is rather malty for the style

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation

Overall: Given the brewer's explanation for the name I detected some disdain for the decision to hop on the NE IPA bandwagon and, in tasting this brew, I think he was heading in a slightly different direction; I wasn't thrilled by the prominence of the malt

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours like grapefruit juice with a barely off white head. A little bit of lacing is left behind. The aroma is nice but faint. There is grapefruit, oranges and some pine with a little yeastiness. The taste is mainly bitter with a bit of grapefruit and mango trying to fight its way out. It isn't that the beer is very bitter it is just that what is there comes in quickly and brushes away the juiciness that one would expect in a NEIPA. It is a little thin and a little low in the carbonation as well. It isn't a bad beer and I feel like there is a great beer hiding in there just waiting to be coaxed out.

Poured into a snifter from a can dated 4/27/2017 with little to no head. The small hint of foam that formed during the pour quickly dissipated to a paper thin lacing at the edge of the glass. The color is that of lemonade with just a splash of iced tea and orange juice and is both hazy and translucent. Held up to the light, this beer has a very pretty soft incandescent glow that would be missed in a dingy bar setting. Aromas of honeydew melon, fresh oranges and a few tropical fruit notes like pineapple and papaya are present. The body is a bit thin and carbonation is barely present. At first I didn't think the beer was that bitter, my assessment no doubt clouded in part by the 30 IBUs displayed on the label, but after a few sips there was a building astringency and very pithy bitterness lingering on the back of my tongue and throat. I don't know that I would enjoy drinking more than one of these in a night, though it feels like a worthy change of pace beer over a session and the 6.1% abv won't kill you. I'd be curious to try this beer again after the hops fade out and see what effect that might have. If you're a citrus loving hophead, you'll love this hop tea brew, but if you value balance over lupulin, you may want to opt elsewhere.

Can stamped 03/27/2017

Murky yellow-gold color with a slim white head. Juicy hop aromas of mango, orange, and a slight spicy greenness over a cakey, biscuity malt base. Flavor is thick with hoppy greenness - grapefruit and apricot along with tropical pineapple and mango notes. Malts contribute a biscuity, granola-like sweetness. Medium-light bodied with fairly light carbonation, finishing dry. Pretty good, though muddled.

A: Pours an extremely murky dark burnt orange/apple cider golden yellow in color with moderate amounts of active visible carbonation rising along the edges of the glass and moderate copper colored highlights. The beer has a finger tall foamy light beige head that reduces to a large patch of thin film covering the entire surface of the beer and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Moderate amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate aromas of juicy citrus/grapefruit, juicy citrus/orange, tropical/mango, and tropical/papaya hops over the top of a light to moderate aroma of slightly sweet biscuit + caramel malts.

T: Upfront there is a light to moderate flavor of biscuit + caramel malts with a slightly heavier than light amount of caramel sweetness. That is followed by moderate to strong flavors of juicy citrus/grapefruit, juicy citrus/orange, tropical/mango, and tropical/papaya hops which impart only a hint of bitterness which does not linger leaving the beautiful juicy hop flavors lingering on your tongue.

M: Just shy of medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Light amounts of dryness in the finish.

O: Easy to drink and really enjoyable, my only knock on the beer is that I would have liked just a hint more fullness to the mouthfeel. Really nice juicy hop flavors and aromas without much in the way of bitterness. Alcohol is very well hidden.