Walden
Hill Farmstead Brewery

WaldenWalden
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Hill Farmstead Brewery
 
Vermont, United States
Style:
American Blonde Ale
Ranked #2
ABV:
4%
Score:
94
Ranked #2,375
Avg:
4.23 | pDev: 6.86%
Reviews:
73
Ratings:
529
Status:
Active
Rated:
Aug 12, 2023
Added:
Jul 21, 2012
Wants:
  65
Gots:
  12
A sessionable pale/blonde ale brewed with our good friend John Kimmich from The Alchemist. <4% ABV. Hopped with Motueka, Amarillo, and Simcoe.

40 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Photo of mothman
Reviewed by mothman from Minnesota

4.25/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
On tap. White head with lace. Cloudy yellow gold color.

Hoppy, but light and smooth. Earthy, grassy, zesty, bready, honey, and light spice. A bit fruity as well. Tons of flavor for such a low abv beer. This one is 3.7%.
Aug 12, 2023
Photo of MikeWard
Reviewed by MikeWard from Pennsylvania

4.06/5  rDev -4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
On tap at Sabatinis in Exeter pa earlier this evening.

Nice looking beer. Hazy yellow body with a strong persistent white head. Lovely aroma, fruity, a little floral. Very hoppy taste, hard to think of this as a blonde ale. Clean, fruity, hoppy finish. An awful lot crammed into a 4.0 beer.
Jul 19, 2023
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.78/5  rDev -10.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Draft at the Mad Taco. Cloudy golden pour, persistent thin white head. Bready, grainy aroma. Taste is malty, biscuity, bready, dry. Creamy, full feel.
Dec 01, 2022
 
Rated: 4.11 by Bhubbard34 from Pennsylvania

Jul 06, 2022
Photo of bubseymour
Reviewed by bubseymour from Maryland

4.57/5  rDev +8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
Such a wonderful light easy drinking ale with lots of flavor and complexity of flavors. A perfect summer beer. Crisp and super clean finish as well. HF should make 15 packs of this beer!
Jul 03, 2022
Photo of jrc1093
Reviewed by jrc1093 from Connecticut

4.06/5  rDev -4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Canned on 5/17/22; consumed on 6/24/22

Pours a barely translucent straw-gold body capped with just over two fingers of dense, fluffy, eggshell-white foam; good head retention leaves a sliver of creamy cap, a slight, frothy collar, and an array of chunky, webby lacing spread around the walls of the glass.

Aroma opens to grapefruit spritz accented with light jasmine, with a musty passionfruit subtly contrasting brightly floral overtones into an earthy malt profile presenting shades of white bread crust and fresh straw.

Taste of sweeter bread dough is overtaken with lemon zest and orange peel upfront, making way for notes of fresh grass and toasted white bread crusts over the mid-palate; a subtle jasmine interlude crosses the back end, resulting in undertones of dry moss across an increasingly floral finish.

Mouthfeel shows a medium-light body and a fuller carbonation, expressing a grassy bittering drying quickly over the mid-palate as a subtle wetness fades to taut crispness on the back end and moderate grit grazing the finish.

A vicidly floral bouquet tops off a quiet, bready crispness overwhelmwd with an earthy hop overlay, at once invigorating nuance and challenging the stylistic perceptions of a blonde ale; the refinements so common in Hill Farmstead namesake do bring the requisite balance to successfully override the more ambitious hopping initiative in this one.
Jun 25, 2022
 
Rated: 3.89 by Hallertau from Wisconsin

Jun 09, 2022
 
Rated: 4.02 by Ben1313 from New Hampshire

May 29, 2022
Photo of LukeGude
Rated by LukeGude from Iowa

4.04/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
On tap at Armsby Abbey. Listed at 3.7%. Session beer before driving. Literally drinks like a NEIPA, not sure how that’s possible.
Oct 09, 2021
Photo of woodchipper
Reviewed by woodchipper from Connecticut

4.34/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured from a 16oz can stamped "canned 07/27/21, drink by 08/24/21", (oh well), to a Nonic at fridge temp.
Pours light orange haze with a 1/2" head with multi-sized bubbles. The head fade in a minute or so but lace nicely.
The citrus is strong with this one. Orange pith, lemonade all with a back ground of subtle must.
The citrus really hits in the taste. Its almost like the bitterness comes from citrus rind rather than hops, but its pleasant.
Mouthfeel is rather light. I think it would be a detriment to the "lemonade effect" if it were creamier.
Another excellent beer from HF.
Aug 29, 2021
 
Rated: 4.5 by paulish from New York

Aug 13, 2021
Photo of SpeedwayJim
Reviewed by SpeedwayJim from New York

4.18/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5
16oz. can into a Founders snifter.

Great head. Hazy but at least this is more of an appropriate style for it. I get citrus, lemon zest, pineapple, papaya, and grass on the nose. Rather subtle. Beer opens spicy. I get peppercorn and clove up front. Citrus, a dry astringency, and lime in the back. Dry finish and aftertaste of citrus peel, bark, and grass. Body is light with ample carbonation. Prickly and lively on the palate and goes down aggressive and quenching. Bone dry finish.

Very good and on the hoppier end of the blondes I've had.
Aug 13, 2021
 
Rated: 4.79 by FabFourCJV from Massachusetts

Aug 02, 2021
 
Rated: 4.45 by Gkruszewski from New York

Jul 31, 2021
 
Rated: 4.38 by 4DAloveofSTOUT from Illinois

Jul 26, 2020
Photo of Holderness
Reviewed by Holderness from Massachusetts

3.76/5  rDev -11.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
Canned 2 weeks ago.

L — Moderately hazy golden orange body with 1.5 fingers of solid white head produced with moderate pour. Decent retention and minimal lacing
S — Mostly grassy, earthy, piney hop character accentuated by a bit of dried citrus peel and garden herbs. Smells clean, dry, and refreshing
T — Quite dry with only a bit of crackery malt character to hold up the zippy grassy/earthy/peppery hop presence that is surprisingly robust for the ABV. Bit of a buttery diacetyl note coming through too, unfortunately, which docks a bit in terms of flavor
F — Medium- mouthfeel, medium+ carb. Highly refreshing and quaffable, with a level of minerality that is through the roof
O — The most lackluster offering I’ve had from HF to date, but this is still solid, especially for a blonde ale

76/100
Jul 09, 2020
Photo of npolachek
Reviewed by npolachek from New York

4.15/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Very solid blonde ale. Good hoppiness and a great yellowish color. Drunk from a 16 ounce can directly from the brewery. Solid foam and great to drink this.
Jun 25, 2020
 
Rated: 3.62 by travisvb from New York

Jun 26, 2019
Photo of Luscious_Malfoy
Reviewed by Luscious_Malfoy from Illinois

4.43/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
poured from a 16oz can into a willi becher pint glass. pours a semi-hazy yellow with quite a lot of fluffy white head. foam clings to the glass heavily and leaves a ton of lacing as the beer is consumed. nose is lemon-forward with a subtle hoppiness to it. has that trademark HF soapy smell to it. and i don’t mean that in a negative way at all. taste is very similar. lemon, orange, subtle hops; almost has a slight must taste and smell to it. not funky or sour in the least. really light and refreshing yet full of flavor and extremely satisfying. feel is probably the highlight of this beer as it has a lower carb thickness to it that i can’t get over. exceptional mouthfeel for such a small beer. overall, very impressed with this. great for the warm weather setting in and i’d also throw in a vote to wine barrel-age this as they have done with a few of their other hoppy offerings.
Jun 18, 2019
 
Rated: 3.85 by Chuckdiesel24 from Illinois

Jun 17, 2019
Walden from Hill Farmstead Brewery
Beer rating: 94 out of 100 with 529 ratings