Golden Ale
Hazel Dell Brewpub

Like most of Hazel Dell’s craft, the Golden Ale pours with a dense head trailing a wide swath of lace. Minuscule bubbles rise heroically from a series of agitation points on the glass. It is lemon-gold color with a touch of ochre and is fully clouded. It’s quite pretty actually, and the beer I savored gave every indication of being suitably fresh.

But this is one of those “love it or don’t” beers and I just can’t cozy to it. It has a yeasted flavor profile with a citric-sweet hop taste followed by drab bittering. Casual blonde ale drinkers won’t appreciate the punchy aftertaste.

Despite this, I heard the waitress suggest to someone new to microbrewed ales that they might care for it because it is somewhat “light.” I can’t recommend it for this purpose, though I’m tempted to suggest that serving it with a wedge of orange or lemon might offset its yeasted tick.