Dirty Blonde
Blue Mountain Brewery

Dirty Blonde, which is Blue Mountain's traditional Mandolin krausened with live, fermenting Kolsch beer to naturally carbonate the beer. 10.7%, 37 IBUs.

Appearance: Comes a gorgeous hazy sunset orange gold, almost juice-like in its opacity, capped by half a finger of snow white head. The retention is slightly retarded at near-11%, but there's a nice surface dusting that stays throughout as the result of a fair amount of lively carbonation and a thick, clingy, but bubbly collar that creeps up the sides of the goblet as well. Lacing on the sides of the glass is a little glittery and runny, but certain strings and eruptions do stick around.

Aroma: Strong cloves and honey-dip dried fruits suggest candied pineapple and oranges, green spices, lemon notes, and huge, almost bitingly penetrating phenols. A little smoother, gentler, and more robust than the mouth. Call it a 4.0 and change.

Taste: Well-attenuated golden malts, crisp and dryly honey-like, complimented by sweet and dried tropical fruits. Pineapple, apricot, orange, and banana esters - all very dried and heavy on the palette - intermingle with the strongly spicy and phenolic yeast notes. Huge cloves and white pepper and a bit of musky, fiery spice effectively masks the alcohol bite.

Mouthfeel: A crisp, dry, moderate-bodied beer full of immaculately fine but lively carbonation, soft but assertive. No cloy or stick in this one - I assume the second fermentation has dried it out - even though its definitely not on the slick side. The crisp carbonation works well with the spicy phenols.

Drinkability: Right up there with the original Mandolin - itself a fabulous beer - and I'm not sure which one I like better. This one had a nice brightly crisp and assertive mouthfeel that I like a little better than the original Mandolin, I think, but I don't know if we'll ever see this one again! Thanks to BMB for pushing the envelope and integrating traditional and interesting old world techniques in to their brewing.