Bingo Bango Bongo
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

473 mL can from the brewery; no canning date. Served barely chilled.

Pours a bright, crystal clear golden-yellow colour; rising to the surface is two fingers of dense, foamy white head that dissipates gradually. More than five minutes later, it has been whittled down to a generous collar of creamy froth, with a cm-thick band of lace sticking to the glass - this is a great looking pale ale. Piney, dank aroma with hints of grapefruit, passion fruit, orange oil and earthy, floral hops.

Tastes pretty mellow for 6.8% and 60 IBUs. Bready malts and lightly caramelized sugars provide the backdrop for flavours of passion fruit, grapefruit, berries and pineapple. Trends a little more citrusy on the back end, with piney, dank hops and some low-level resiny bitterness rounding out the back end; mildly fruity-sweet, piney aftertaste that lingers momentarily. Medium in body, with low carbonation that barely registers on the tongue, resulting in a smooth, somewhat slick mouthfeel. Surprisingly drinkable for its strength, but two servings would be my limit on any given night.

Final Grade: 3.81, a B+. Bingo Bango Bongo isn't the flashiest IPA you'll ever come across, but I reckon it's still a pretty darn good one. As a west coast IPA, it mostly hits the mark - though if you're hoping for a bracingly bitter hop bomb, I'm not sure this qualifies. On the contrary, its sweet malts & fruity hop notes are balanced out very well by the piney, dank & resiny facets of its profile. This is good enough to deserve another batch, as well as a spot in one of Refined Fool's IPA mix packs.