Bandido
Tripping Animals Brewing

 

Single hop Mossaic.

A: Strong swirling nature of carbonation within a tangerine colored body of good clarity. Stone white head was rather large on the pour, firm and foamy, with a good stickage factor on the vessel walls. Lots of soapy deposits.

S: Candy mangoes scents, sweet along with tropical citrus. A bit of wet grassiness on the trail. Good strength and complexity from a single hop shows the expression potential of this style.

T: Grassy tropical grapefruit notes for flavor are followed by a firm bitterness. Dank tropical hops are mango with a bit of mint strawberry and herbal expressions. Some orange-caramel malting and sweetness balances slightly, with a lightly dry and dank flowery finish to it all.

M: Medium build on the mouthful, a bit slippery and smooth. Good carbonation backing things up builds on the firmness and alkaline feel.

O: Overall a nice range of flavors for a single hop. Juicy dank tropical moments, strawberry and orange-caramel stand out. A gentle fade of a dry hop finish makes for a good consumption rate without being overwhelmed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tripping Animals has been pretty dang good to me ever since I first had their collaboration with Widowmaker last year. Since seeing their stuff pop up in my distro area, I've tried to snag just about everything of theirs that I can find. This is ostensibly the "simplest" thing they've put out that I can access: a Mosaic pale ale. Looking forward to trying this one out, as everything else I've had from them has been typically throwing out a lot of unusual hop combos in the tradition of similar "high-turnaround IPA focused breweries" such as Finback etc.

The pour here is pretty nice, though extremely standard. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and I like a good ol' hazy pale just as much as anyone else. I will say that even though the head formation and retention here are not spectacular, the goddamn lacing is out of control. Love how consistent and "sheet-like" it is while still having some structure. Legs ain't bad either, actually.

The nose here is just great. I get a lot of the really rad blueberry/raspberry elements of Mosaic right upfront with slight dankness, pineapple, mango, and tangelo riding a wave of interesting grassiness as a main undercurrent. It seems to be bringing out a lot of the great character of Mosaic; the stuff that made this hop an all-star in the first place! I think the thing this is getting the most right is the balance of weird dankness to the fruity elements that really pull disparate fruit aspects together into something cohesive.

On the tongue, Bandido is crisp, easy-drinking, juicy, and extremely flavorful. The body is between light/airy and a more medium feel with a nicely complex flavor that runs the entire range of hoppy qualities I appreciate in a mid-strength pale ale. Some esters come out as it acclimates to room temperature and a lot of the berry and dank flavors start to become really prominent. Overall, really good beer here. I would gladly drink it anytime!

16oz can. No date. I like how a "session" IPA is listed at 6%...

This stuff is most definitely what's up. Filled with sediment and juicy vegetal hop flavor. It tastes 'green'. Reminds me of the very best years of Surly Wet. Crisp, mostly clean, sorta slick, with a long flavorful finish

The best beer I've had so far this Fall

Hazy OJ color with a half finger of soupy, off-white head. Poor retention, but decent lacing.

Big pepper in the nose, with some clementine and even a hint of vanilla.

Peppery citrus continues in the taste, again with some creamy, almost-vanilla on the backend. There’s a little grass and papaya mid-palate and some green onion, pine dust and grapefruit bitterness in the finish and aftertaste as well.

Medium bodied, fairly slick, with nice carbonation.

This is a tasty beverage. Love the can art.

No canned on date. Poured into a Samuel Adams Perfect Pint.

A: Murky lemonade yellow hue with 1-2 fingers of off-white frothy head with good retention and copious lacing.

S: High intensity aroma with complexity -- papaya, mango, red grapefruit, berry, and lime with some herbal undercurrent

T: Flavor is stellar with similar high intensity to the aroma with red grapefruit, lime, mango, peach, and sweet berry with the similar herbal notes sneaking through. Bitterness is medium and high fruity yeast esters. Malt presence comes through in the finish with some pale cereal maltiness.

M: Soft and somewhat thick with medium body, soft carbonation, and surprisingly medium dry finish.

O: Impressive first beer from Tripping Animals (both beer and brewery names must be in short supply!). No matter -- this beer is a serious shot at the big NEIPAs around. Why they call it a pale ale on the can is beyond me -- there is a slightly higher malt presence but still I would call this a NEIPA all the way.

 

 

 

Pale ale heavily hopped with mosaic. Crisp taste and well balanced brew. Didn’t love the taste as was a bit bitter for my liking minus the citrus that would fit this well.