I can still remember the first time I had an offering from New Belgium Brewing Company. A good friend had gone out west on a ski trip, and upon his return a few cases of Fat Tire had tagged along. As soon as I had my first taste of it I actually said outloud ''That's a tasty brew!''. And indeed it was a tasty brew...back then. Now days, the Fat Tire that you are drinking seems to be nothing more than a shadow of its original self. I tend to look at it as a casualty of success, and based on that occurence, I actually found myself shying away from the rest of the New Belgium line out of sheer disappointment. Then a few days ago while browsing the ''Build your own six pack'' section at my local store, I found myself face to face with their Ranger IPA. After a few moments of debate, I decided I would give them one more shot at winning me back.

When poured, Ranger takes on a golden coloration that has just a bit of an amber tint to it. A fluffy bright white head sits atop it and leaves some nice rings in the glass as the session moves along. Once you get your nose in close, the first thing you notice is an almost overwhelming smell of musty pine resin. It's not completely out of the range of acceptable, but it definitely sticks it's toe across the line a couple of times. Once you move past it, if you are even able to, some finer notes of pineapple, grapefruit, and light caramel malts start to work their way through. And though they are unable to overpower the pine resin at any point, they do at least manage to keep things from becoming boring.

When you go in for the first taste of it, you instantly notice a somewhat thin mouthfeel. Granted it still manages to remain sticky slick, but as far as personal preferences go, I would of liked it to have a little more weight in that department. As far as the flavors go, just as in the nose, the pine dominates everything else. It isn't until about halfway through that any other flavors really start to make themselves known. The main ones would be biscuit malts, orange peel, and overly ripe grapefruit.

I really don't think that Ranger IPA is a bad beer by any means. I realize that a few of the stylistic limits might have been pushed, but never were they completely broken. I really wouldn't have any problem with recommending it to any level of a drinker. Those new to the game could view it as a little bit of an aggressive bridge beer, while those with more experience could look at it as a nice session IPA. And as far as New Belgium Brewing goes, I tip my cap to you. While we may not be back on completely good terms, your Ranger IPA can definitely be viewed as the first step on a long road of redemption.