All the Kool Kats on the Back of The Bus
Fat Orange Cat Brew Co.

Aroma is bready/slightly earthy malts and spicy/dank hops. The flavor is citrus, fruit/dark fruit/stone fruit, malts and a bitter/spicy/grapefruit hop finish.

 

At first blush it’s very ambiguously/non specifically fruity: Peach papaya orange blah blah blah… you know the drill. This does drink like the 8.4 abv would suggest. Finishes pithy and tinglingly bitter, you can feel the simcoe and nugget working in the back half of each gulp. I’m getting a slight soapiness (which I hope is not coming from my glass… or do I?) More clementine and orange rind slight vanilla creamsicle as it warms up. There is a universal resinous note that took me a minute to certify mentally. This beer is decidedly east coast despite the nugget and simcoe… but there’s something there that is confusing. It’s almost a 50/50 juice to bitter ratio. It’s smooth and spiky at once. The cool kids at the back of the bus usually are a bit quirky and this beer fits the type. It’s flavors are a similar eclectic melange of back of bus archetypes: the bully, the hot girl, the sardonic acid punk, the saintly teen madonna, the funny fat kid and the wild card spectrum semi-feral child. No out and out jocks unless they’re the cool kind.

 

Upon opening and pouring, I noticed the huge head, the rich hazy lighter amber color, and the fresh hoppy smell. The taste was pure IPA heaven, just the right amount of hops. Wish I had bought more…

This little number has some chunk to it ... Very fragrant and hazy and a bit sloppy in appearance which I actually like ... A bit sweet and not a hint of booziness ... Glad I'm now a Kool Kat

 

 

The favorite hoppy game to play is when a brewery uses 2-3 hop varieties so that each individual character can help to define the beer's identity. One hop variety rarely gets it done where more than three leaves the beer quite wonderful but muddled in its hop identify. I guess we can't all be the cool kids. But with the use of Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic and Nugget hops, we'll just all be Kool Kats instead.

All The Kool Kats On The Back Of The Bus shows off its dense glow of peachy gold with a slight eggshell froth. As the hoppy perfume shines with the scent of bold citrus and ligher berry, tropics and herb, the beer's off-citronella character leads to a sweet upstart of croissant, honeysuckle, cereal and poundcake.

Growing hop impressions eventually outshine the malts as the beer washes the middle palate with tangerine, grapefruit, lime, mandarin orange and kumquat. A background of additional fruits reveal hints of mango, passionfruit, nectarine and pineapple in a well rounded fruit display. Trending herbal and smoothly bitter, the late taste shows an uncharacteristic dry and snappy taste to contend with the linger of cereal and grain sweetness in ideal fashion.

Full bodied for IPA, the beer's plush and juicy taste is met with a rounded and smooth texture that keeps the fruity hop impressions radiant and branch-ripe. Medium in bitterness, the ale finishes with a hop spice of pine needle, hemp, gin botanicals and citrus peel with an extended afterglow of bitter resins.

Excellent head production, retention, and lacing. Body is cloudy but not completely opaque.

Very bright, fresh nose, with citrus and green herbs leading the way, accented by overripe peach and papaya. Tangerine, lemon, grass, basil, and a little bit of honey.

Very similar presentation on the palate, albeit lacking quite the punch. A touch dirty, as well, with a moderately dank back half. Tasting notes include peach, pineapple, papaya, tangerine, lemon, honey, white bread, cracker, and a touch of rye.

Smooth and soft but with a lively bite. Easy drinker for the ABV.

Can dated 1/27/22 (going on 4 months old...) into pint glass. Pours a very hazy honey-gold color with a nice off-white head. Good lacing. Initial impression is juicy orange, pineapple, and caramel. Mouthfeel is thick, soft, and sticky. Finish fades to sweet, but not cloying. Overall, another very enjoyable DIPA from FOC. Wish I'd bought more than a single.

 

Poured into shaker pint. Fruitcreamy head good and steady, dull oblique yellow body.

Nose is tropical fruit and mild spicy hops.

Taste is a creamy mango orange creamsicle blend with sour hop bitter.

Creamy dry mouth, smooth carb.

Almost forgot what this style can do. Yummy chew of an IPA. Too much, Kool Kat bus.

16oz can. Poured out a cloudy, golden orange color with a small, khaki-colored head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of grapefruit, orange, pineapple, mango and sweet caramel. Sweet tropical fruit taste with toasted caramel and a sharp, piney bitterness.

 

 

Tasted in a Spiegelau IPA glass from a one pint can on March 9, 2021.

Canned: 01/09/21

L: It pours a pale amber with full haze. The pour results in a fine off white two finger head. Excellent retention with the head slowly falling to about 3 mm. The head is sticky and leaves an intricate mass of lacing around the whole circumference of the glass. This is a fine looking beer.

S: The nose is a bit muted for a NEIPA. I get candied mango; orange; and notes of pineapple, lime, and piney dankness with a hint of grainy malt.

T: The taste is more bitter than the nose would suggest. On the front end I get bitter citrus pith and lime. The middle palate is dominated by pineapple and candied mango which flows into the back end. The back end is sweet mango and orange with a bitter and a slightly tart pine grading into a weedy dank crescendo.

F: I get a full body with low carbonation. The mouthfeel has a minimal creaminess that finishes dry.

O: This is a good example of an NEIPA if you prefer some bitter dankness in your NEIPA. Don't get me wrong, it is juicy but the bitterness and piney weed notes are strong enough to balance it out. At about $14 per 4-pack.....would drink again.