Focal Banger India Pale Ale | The Alchemist Brewery and Visitors Center

4.63/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

4.5/5  rDev -2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

4.11/5  rDev -10.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

4.55/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

4.75/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

4.69/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

A side by side with Heady Topper. A good day to say the least.

Pours a more orange gold than Heady, with a similar foamy head. Minimal lace.

Like Heady, getting loads of pineapple, but hints of grapefruit and tangerine come through as well. Almost entirely fruit on the nose.

Nice bitter flavors; grapefruit, pine, and subtle pineapple. While Heady is all tropical on the nose with much more hop on the tongue, Focal is very similar on nose and tongue. While you don't get the hop presence until you taste, the pineapple and. It's citrus come through on both. Really well balanced.

Clean crisp, slightly sticky. No complaints with the mouthfeel.

Another amazing Alchemist beer, but when discussing which I prefer between this and Heady... very slight edge to Heady. Definitively on the nose, only slightly on the flavor. Fantastic experience with both.

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4.55/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

4.27/5  rDev -7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

4.75/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

4.83/5  rDev +5.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

Very few AIPA's can hang with Focal Banger. It's a bit more bitter up front than Heady Topper but still just as good.

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4.46/5  rDev -2.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

4.35/5  rDev -5.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

4.71/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

4.25/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

4.54/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

4.1/5  rDev -10.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

4.75/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

4.56/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

After seeing the hype around this beer & with my love for Heady, I had to wait until I had a few of these before rating. Are people right to say it's better than the legend? Just like all the Alchemist IPAs, the odour hits you as soon as you crack the can & you just want to let those hops roll over your tongue. It's a great beer; a nice very lightly cloudy straw colour with a fluffy white head with good retention & some light lacing. Grassy citrus dominates the hop flavour for me and there's a touch of dank in there along with that smoothness from the mosaic which then ends with a pleasant light pine dry bitterness. It's an excellent IPA but I still like Heady a little more.

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4.67/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

4.99/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

5/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

4.89/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

4.62/5  rDev +0.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

4.66/5  rDev +1.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

4.74/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

My bad! I poured this into a glass. It is a slightly hazy gold color with lots of particulate matter. Fairly large white head and some nice lacing.
Pine aroma, a little citrus. Sweet malt.
Lots of pine resin in the taste. A little grapefruit. Caramel background.
Perfect bitterness.

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