Blocks Of Light
Outer Range Brewing Co

This is my first beer from Outer Range Brewing, an apparently-small brewery whose two most-well-known pale ales just showed up for the first time today in my favorite local store here in MA. I can't guarantee freshness of this beer personally, as the brewery doesn't seem to can-date, but the dude who owns the store said they just got it in an unannounced drop. Shrug. Anyway, this is a 6% DDH NE-style IPA hopped with Galaxy and Mosaic. Seems like a tough beer to mess up. Hoping for the best!

Pours an opaque, nicely-vibrant orange color with strong lightfastness and a generous dollop of head which nevertheless sinks down to about a half-finger of pillowy suds after a few minutes. Very nice lacing and superb legs on this one, topped off with a hazed-over surface covered in the same foamy goodness which once built up to three (or more!) fingers. I'm into it.

The nose is dank and fruity with some intense guava, papaya, pineapple, and passion fruit alongside a touch of white wine grape, all combined with that certain sweaty/musky dankness that Mosaic plays up so damn well, especially in smaller IPAs such as this one. There's a "creaminess" to the proceedings here, as well, which almost makes me think of lactose, but I don't see that as a declared ingredient on the can anywhere, so who knows. Interestingly, this has a very Citra/Nelson forward element as well. Indeed, I would definitely have guessed those two hops had some involvement here if the two listed hops weren't given.

Oh yeah, this even tastes like a Nelson IPA, right down to the gooseberry-like parting note of each sip. Interesting, that. The Galaxy and Mosaic are certainly playing together well here, however, bringing out intense earthy, piney, and tropical flavors that dance nicely on the palate. A slight bit of herbal liqueur, stone fruit like flavors (apricot/peach), guava, and mango all present well with some backing notes of tangerine zest and bright pineapple-like sweetness. This is a touch syrupy for its strength, and drinks a bit more in the 7+% ABV range, if I'm being honest, but it could be due to how oil saturated and hoppy it is. I definitely dig this and will try to have more stuff by these guys as long as they keep distributing here. Nice-looking can, as well, if that counts for anything.

RB transfer

440 ml can, from Vinmonopolet, Nettbutikken. Brewed at Outer Range French Alps. ABV is 6.2%. Medium hazy yellow colour, large white head. Aroma of tropical fruits, also jam / marmalade of yellow plums. Flavour of citrus / grapefruit and pine, also notes of tropical fruits. Medium bitter finish.

 

 

 

 

Canned 1/25/24. Drank 2/28/24.

Pour is an opaque, murky, deep golden yellow with a dense cap of white foam. Great retention. Great lacing.
Nose is waves of berries, resin, citrus, tropical fruits. Solid bitterness; not overly sweet. Quite tasty

 

 

 

 

 

16oz can. Poured out a slightly cloudy, golden orange color with a small, off-white head of foam. It left sudsy sheets of lace on the glass. It smelled of pineapple, guava, orange and sweet caramel. Nice tropical fruit taste with caramel, toffee and a sharp, piney bitterness.