New Belgium has played a major role in shaping the craft beer industry as we know it. After its founding in 1991, the Colorado-based brewery launched crowd favorites like Fat Tire amber ale and La Folie sour brown ale. Then came the now-infamous Voodoo Ranger, a rebrand of the brand’s Ranger IPA.
The original 2017 line consisted of just two beers: the Voodoo Ranger IPA and Imperial IPA. A third expression, the Juicy Haze IPA, rolled out a year later. Since then, the Voodoo Ranger family has expanded to roughly 20 different beers. Not all have stood the test of time, but the lineup currently consists of nine IPAs, not including seasonal offerings like the 1985 Mango IPA or Atomic Pumpkin Ale.
In 2023, Brewbound reported that the Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA and Juice Force Hazy Imperial IPA held the top two spots, respectively, as the nation’s best-selling IPAs in grocery and convenience stores. Needless to say, the now-Kirin-owned New Belgium has found a way to hack industry-wide, slowly declining beer sales, and its success lies largely in its marketing. The brand and its signature skeleton have become symbols of approachability for the casual IPA consumer.
Given its popularity, we’ve decided to put the Voodoo Ranger family to the taste test. For this roundup, all beers were poured from the can (or bottle) and sampled prior to their respective “enjoy by” dates out of glencairn glasses. Check out the full lineup and their rankings below, in order from worst to best.
ABV: 7.5%
IBUs: 32
Hops: Citra and Centennial
Malts: Pale and C-80
Yeast: Ale
On the nose, Electric Thunderclap IPA presents like a brown ale. It’s got those slightly sweet, malty aromas one gets from popping a bottle of Newcastle. There’s a subtle stone fruit element as well, but an off-putting, musty matchbook note pervades. Going in for a sip, we get a similar brown-ale-adjacent profile. The palate is rich, chewy, chock-full of caramel sweetness, and tapers off at the end with a subtle, hoppy bite. Between that sulfuric note on the nose and the fact that this doesn’t really drink like an IPA, we have to admit that this is, without a doubt, the weakest link in the Voodoo Ranger IPA lineup.
ABV: 9.5%
IBUs: 33
Hops: Pahto, Amarillo, Centennial, Galaxy, Sabro, Lotus, and Strata
Malts: Pale, malted oats, and white wheat
Yeast: London Ale III
This brew emerges from the can with a glowing, almost radioactive tint. On the nose, we get a cloud of bubblegum and cotton candy aromas that slowly give way to mango-peach hand soap. The palate is a spitting image of the nose, with an undercurrent of Hawaiian Punch. For a beer that boasts a hop profile including seven different varietals, it’s surprising we get virtually no hoppiness in this one.
ABV: 9.5%
IBUs: 30
Hops: Mosaic, Chinook, Phato, Galaxy, Strata, Lotus, and Sabro
Malts: Pale, oats, and wheat
Yeast: Ale
Juice Force is, for better or worse, like a mixed bag of Haribo gummies in beer form. The nose is full of tangerines, raw honey, and peach, and leans candy-like. The palate is equally sweet, with peach emerging most prominently from the pack. The finish is saccharine, too, but there’s just enough hoppiness to keep the beer somewhat dry and crushable. It may be an IPA by definition, but it performs more like a fruit punch.
ABV: 7%
IBUs: 50
Hops: Amarillo, Cascade, Mosaic, Chinook, HBC 522, Strata, and Citra
Malts: Pale, honey, and Pilsner
Yeast: Ale
The collection’s OG falls a little low on this list due to its reserved expression of its seven-varietal hop bill. It kicks off with faint notes of pine, banana, and Corn Flakes on the nose, while the palate delivers much of the same. All the while, nearly all of its character remains predominantly muted. That said, it does have a nice, full-bodied mouthfeel, and finishes with the same malty sweetness we get from the brewery’s Fat Tire ale.
ABV: 9.5%
IBUs: 33
Hops: Mosaic, Chinook, Pahto, Galaxy, Strata, Lotus, and Sabro
Malts: Pale, oats, and wheat
Yeast: N/A
True to its name, the Voodoo Ranger Tropic Force IPA smells… well, tropical. Pineapple steals the show, but other island-adjacent fruits like mango and coconut come through on the back end. The palate is pineapple-heavy straight through, with a bit of lingering astringency on the finish. Tropic Force is not as aggressively sweet and fruity as Juice Force or Fruit Force, and it actually maintains some noticeable hop character from the Galaxy and Sabro hops.
ABV: 7.5%
IBUs: 42
Hops: Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe, and Nugget
Malts: Pale, wheat, C-80, and oats
Yeast: American Hefeweizen
True to its name, the Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA pours a quintessential hazy yellow. On the nose, we get a combination of mothball dankness, bubblegum, and banana — likely imparted by the Hefeweizen yeast. As for the taste, it’s pretty adjacent to the flagship IPA, but a bit sweeter.
ABV: 9.5%
IBUs: 33
Hops: Mosaic, Chinook, Phato, Galaxy, and Sabro
Malts: Pale, oats, and wheat
Yeast: Ale
In the glass, Peach Force carries a West Coast-adjacent golden tone. The nose dishes up a bouquet of peach rings, vanilla, and hops that keep it well within the territory of actually smelling like a beer. On the palate, we get a generous serving of peach and watermelon coupled with a bitterness and light tannic flavors. Compared to the rest of Voodoo’s Force SKUs, this beer bears the closest resemblance to a classic imperial IPA. And for that reason, we favor it above the rest of the squad.
ABV: 7.3%
IBUs: 20
Hops: Cashmere, Sabro, and HBC 1019
Malts: Pale and oats
Yeast: Ale
This hazy clocks in much lower on the IBU scale than its cohorts, and it opens up with a strong aroma of Pine-Sol that gives way to more pleasing notes of Valencia orange and coconut. Sabro can be a bully of a hop, and its coconut influence has a tendency to overpower a beer’s profile and drag it into Banana Boat sunscreen territory. Here, though, it adds pleasant creaminess to a palate heavy on tropical fruit. It may lean a little sweet for some drinkers’ tastes, but we feel that it’s one of the more balanced offerings in the Voodoo Ranger family.
ABV: 9%
IBUs: 70
Hops: Delta, Bravo, Centennial, Cascade, Calypso, and Mosaic
Malts: Pale and black
Yeast: Ale
The reigning champ of the bunch, Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA steals the title for its delightfully hoppy profile and balance despite its sky-high ABV. On the nose, there’s a distinctly bready, malty aroma that tangoes with some boozy heat and pine-forward Pacific Northwest hop aromatics. All elements considered, it’s an inviting scent profile akin to that of the flagship IPA from California’s Lagunitas Brewing Company. The palate delivers a heavy-handed dose of pine, apricot, and bubblegum with a teeth-clenching bitterness that keeps the whole brew dry and refreshing. There’s honestly not much to knock here. It’s simply a good, balanced imperial IPA.
The article Every Voodoo Ranger IPA, Tasted and Ranked appeared first on VinePair.
