Renegade Plays by the Rules with 5:00 O'Clock Afternoon Ale

Jeff

I've been a fan of Renegade for a long time: an empty bottle of their iconic Voodoo Maple Bacon Doughnut Ale has been standing on one of my bookshelves for many years now. Their willingness to experiment is something I appreciate. However, in their 5:00 Afternoon Ale I find that creativity sorely lacking.

This ale has a mild citrusy flavor with a pleasant bitterness that doesn't linger. It has some complexity (though I couldn't identify anything specific) and overall I would say this is an OK representitive of an ale. Unfortunately, it's just not very interesting. For this to merit higher than average with this flavor profile this beer would just have had to be a whole lot bolder in flavor. As it is it's just sort of exists- it neither excites me or is a complete failure.

I think Renegade can do better.

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Haley

Since this very summer, I have had the oppourtunity to try an actual Voodoo Doughtnut Maple Bacon bar. It is perfectly delicious. Sweet, salty, umami, everything perfectly rationed out so nothing overpowers, bacon cooked to perfection. It is a unique and rare treat. Having tried an imitation at a lesser doughnut shop years earlier I can tell you- it's either the real deal, or it's not. Accept no substitutions.

But that what I kind of feel like when I look at this can. Like this design is the substitute placeholder used until the REAL design is finished. How completely boring is this? The yellow is a nice shade but this might as well be a white can with "BEER" stamped on it in black.

I guess I was under the impression that Renegade put a bit more thought into their design work (because that bottle in our living room that Jeff mentions isn't just there for the memories). I guess I thought wrong.

Note: the name of this beer also reminds of this classic riff from MST3K:

"They just didn't care!"