Belgian Style Golden Ale
Lazy Boy Brewing

 

 

 

 

 

Initial aromas are malty, and the color in the glass is a nice golden orange color.

The head and lacing are not too prominent.

On first swig, there is an initial bite on the mouth which turns into a smoothness by the third drink or so.

The taste is sweet, malt, with very subtle apricot apple underneath.

Any hops are very subtle.

There is the presence of a kind of hearty, wheaty after taste, which I like.

I think the higher alcohol content is evenly balanced to the point where it's not overly noticeable that this is a 8.7% beer.

 

From BeerAdvocate magazine Issue #61 (Feb 2012):

LOOK: Deep, clear, brassy gold

SMELL: Taffy, lemon zest, green peppercorn, nougat, ripe plantains, perry, shortbread

TASTE: Creamy body, cake batter, lemongrass, peppery, chalky, cherries, toasted bread, warming esters, faint Band-Aid, powdered clove, plums, dry finish

We get the whole “Belgian” thing, and perhaps therein lies the “style,” but this is clearly American brewed vs. an attempt at a specific Belgian style. Semi-complex, wild, but quite clean, too. Not a bad beer, just different. Regardless, we enjoyed the attempt.

Served in straight pint glass. Poured a clear, clean, golden honey/amber color with just a thin ring of white head that had no retention and the bare minimum of lace.

The aroma was pretty much what I expected, a bit sweet and some yeasty spiciness. The flavors were the same, sweet and a bit spicy, with an interesting tang on the finish.

The body was good, solid without being heavy, smooth and not sticky. Drinkability was good, the beer went down easily and I wanted another. Overall, a solid, decent brew. Certainly worth trying when you see it.

Nice copper color, long standing white layer of foam atop the beer.

smells of malt and belgian spice

taste- I'm kind of meh about this beer. decent belgian spice flavor, odd aftertaste, kind of a dull malt flavor.

MF is ok, not super sticky or anything, and nice level of carb.

Generally speaking, I'm pretty indifferent about this one. I mean it isn't bad, but it isn't good either. There are a lot better offerings in this category of beer.

Hazy orange and thin tannish head with little retention. Sweet booze, yeast and wheat. Bready with sweet alcohol and significant saltiness and a slighty medicinal aftertaste. Smooth fuzzy and a light mouthcoating.

An okay sipping beer although not a whole lot of taste but decent. It does seem to have a bit of a watery consistency from time to time.

Poured from a 22oz bomber into a tulip at 50F.

A - Definitely a disappointing aspect of this beer. Although it has the expected deep gold color, with a slighly hazy cloudiness, it lacks any significant head and had next to no lacing.

S - Pretty strong aromas here of yeast and spice. Just a touch of earthy hops. Not exactly fragrant however.

T - Better than expected given the appearance. For the price ($3.75), it is quite acceptable, and actually decent. Lots of clove spice and yeast to balance the crispness and sweetness of the malts (getting sweeter as it warms). Just a bit of apricot fruit.

M - Nice light-to-medium body, but apparently lacking in carbonation. Could use some work, or I had an off bottle carbonation-wise.

D- Can't taste the 8.7% at all, so that is good. Flavors are there, so overall this is quite decent. Not the best example of the style by any stretch, but what can you expect given the bargain price. I will buy it again for that very reason...

Poured from 22oz bomber into a tulip.

Appearance: deep gold color; relatively haze-free. No appreciable head after the initial pour.

Smell: aroma is sweet, floral and slightly chalky. Aroma includes flowers, pear and maybe a little peach. Very spring-y.

Taste: very much like the aroma. I like it, but it almost seems a little strongly one-dimensional. It reminds me a lot of those Candian candies called floral gums; kind of sweet and perfume-y. Not horrible, but not exactly what I'm seeking.

Mouthfeel: rather disappointing. I like my Belgians to be bottle conditioned or carbonated like crazy to yield a creamy delicious mouthfeel. This beer is almost flat.

Drinkability: pretty drinkable. You don't taste the 8.7%, so it has that going for it, but it also lacks the complexity that keeps me wanting more. It's almost a Belgian with training wheels.

The taste and smell of this aptly named beer were well directed and reminded me a bit of Pranqster. The aroma held pepper and clove and the taste fell into that comforting ideal of sharp, but not too sharp. Good stuff.

But the body was too lacking in vigor to accommodate. It was pure copper with sluggish carbonation and left no head or lace at all. Zip. I suppose that's a bottling issue as opposed to a more strictly defined brewing issue. But until it's resolved the beer can't earn the marks it otherwise probably deserves.

22oz bottle into a tulip. This is probably a year old.

Looks ok. Nice color, carb, and head but clear and filtered.

Smell is Belgian yeast, wet cardboard, cherry.

Taste follows, ends in buttery malt. Diacryl

mouthfeel is average. Ok carb, unfiltered would be better.

Meh - forgettable at best. Maybe this obviously filtered "Belgian" should be drank fresh, but I just get an extremely mediocre, stale mess.

Lazy Boy Belgian Style Golden Ale

A: Clear orange body beneath a short head of off-white foam. The head slowly dwindles = good retention. Average lacing.

S: Yeasty fruit and chalk. Typical Belgian yeast - I can't remember which strain.

T: Yeasty and fruity. Chalky yeast, apricot-like fruitiness. Seemingly wheaty base. Mild bitterness lies underneath. Finishes mostly dry with the chalkiness of the yeast drying it, and a delicate spritz of alcohol adding to it.

M: Medium bodied with a median carbonation level. Smooth.

D: Drinkaable in that it offers no roadblocks, except maybe alcohol content. But it's not really very interesting as far as Belgian-style golden ales go.

Poured into a chalice a nice hazy golden orange color, nice carbonation, nice one-finger fizzy off-white head, with some nice sticky lacing left behind. The nose is malty, with some yeast notes, fruity (grapes), slight spice. The taste is sweet, malty, with some nice yeast notes, a nice grape/fruitness in this brew, slight spice. Medium body. Drinkable, a very tasty brew, quite different in my book, glad I picked this one out.

A reasonable pour summons forth a three-finger thick, lightly tan colored head as well as sticky, sweet aromas of honey. The beer is a full gold color that shows a brilliantly clear, bright gold color when held up to the light. The big honey note seems to fade quickly and I am left with notes of pear, an herbal sort of malt note, some spicy clove and a dry cracker like grain character. The finish has a touch of alcohol spiciness / heat to it, but this is fairly soft. The aroma is a bit on the muted side with the fruitiness being the most dominant note.

Fairly dry, in fact quite dry, the beer even has a tartness to it that lightly influences the flavor. This has enough carbonation to provide a bit of a peppery bite as well as some texture. There is also a fermentation derived spiciness to this brew that provides / boosts the pepper note as well as providing some clove notes, a touch of ginger and some earthy spiciness. This beer is quite light bodied which makes it quite quaffable. As the beer warms up it picks up just a hint of sweetness in the finish. There is also a soft fruitiness here that reminds me of pears and green apples and perhaps a touch of floral honey in the finish.

This is an interesting beer, I wasn't expecting very much from this, so it has exceeded my expectations. I definitely like how dry it is and even the hint of tartness just makes this a little more interesting and quaffable. This beer is decent, even if not overly interesting.

On draught at the Dog & Pony, served in a goblet, Lazy Boy's Belgian is a murky dark gold with a small off-white collar that leaves very light, scattered lace.

Smell is a kind of damp sour citruss, wheat and spices, with a yeasty (rather then estery) bit as well some clean alcohol as it warms.

Taste is a little saions like, a big citrus spice flavor (but doesn't have that coriander bite, I'm thinking actually fruit peel or a lemony herb) to it for sure, but also a nice pithy mineral bite, drier, very nice. A little bit of a bready malt backbone as well.

Mouthfeel is crisp, nice carbonation, dry, medium body.

Drinkability is pretty high, I was really digging it. Saison style for sure, which is my favorite style. Very well done, I always underestimate Lazy Boy and then when I get around to having one, I'm blown away. Factor in local availability and price and you've got a real winner.