Mendocino Blonde
Mendocino Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A - Poured out a clear, golden yellow color with a small, fizzy white head. It left little to no lacing.

S - It smelled of caramel and grains. Not much else going on here.

T - Grains and caramel. Mostly a sweet taste with mild grassy bitterness.

M - It was crisp and sharp. A light bodied ale with a dry finish.

O - This is an okay blonde ale. Not one I'm going to stock up on, though.

 

 

 

 

Bought a 12 FL. OZ. bottle of this & added it to my Mix-A-Six Pack @ Naked Vine in Chesterfield, MO for $9.99. Poured from the Yellow Labeled bottle w/ a bird in the middle of the label into my 0,47l New Belgium Oversized Snifter Glass. Does not have any type of bottled/freshness date.

Aroma- Has a ton of banana, fruit, and spice that lingers throughout the entire smell. Tons of malt and sweetness also. Great character for a Blonde Ale!

Appearance- Pours a .5 finger head that has average retention. Has a medium orange colored body that is very clear. Leaves thick lacing behind.

Flavor- Very sweet, malty, light breaded flavor with a nice banana character. Once again, great complexity! Has an almost unnoticeable hop flavor and bitterness isn't present also.

Mouthfeel- Light-Medium Bodied, Medium-High Carbonation, Smooth, and then has a nice sweet finish. Fruits are left on the palate.

Overall Impression- VERY surprised to see this one rated so poorly! Bryan @ Naked Vine said many people raved about this brew also as a Blonde Ale. I found awesome attributes in this one and would say it is in my top 10 Blonde Ales. Approachable for those wanting to try this style and yet has tons of flavor and complexity. Go for it if available!

Yellow pour, a little cloudier than it should be, this is a blonde, not a hefe/weizenbock etc. . . thin head. Not attractive. Aroma was neutral.

Taste was very light, I'd guess around 15 ibus, at this point I was already thinking that you can buy similar product for much cheaper. Didn't really see how this fits under the craft banner. Its more like for urbanites who think BMC is too NASCAR or something. Tastes sweet, as if corn or wheat is part of the miniscule malt presence. There are no off flavors or bad flavors, there just well, isn't much flavor.

This beer pours a light gold with slight cloudiness and a one finger white head. It smells of buttered toast. Uh oh, diacetyl sighting. The flavor too, of nothing but buttered toast. It smells like melted fats. It drank as it should for the style, in between light and medium in body but this quickly turned into a drainpour. No loss here.

Aroma is fairly strong and yeasty, with a somewhat nasty sour overtone - not pleasing, but let's go further. Well, color is a typical clear straw-yellow, too much like an industrial lager to make much of an impression. Head is white and does not stick around too long. Flavor is malty and wan, and has a tone of - hmmm, sour cheese. Texture is watery and barely fizzy. I hope this bottle was from a bum batch.

I found this single 12oz brown bottle at the Binny's in Glen Ellyn, IL for $1.59. There was no freshness date on the bottle, but this is Mendocino's newest summer seasonal that they only started making in April of 2O1O, so this can't be too old.

The beer poured a cloudy yellow/gpld color with only a thin white rim for a head, despite a hard pour. It did leave some lacing, but on the whole it wasn't a very pretty looking beer.

Wow! This has a huge, and I mean huge, toffee smell to it along with some wheat aroma in the background.

This has a big toffee flavor as well. It's like biting into a Heath bar without the chocolate on it. While they claim to have both Cascade and Saaz hops in here, basically all I can taste is the sweet maltiness along with some wheat flavor. It's actually pretty good even tholugh it might not be all that balanced. I think the hops proviode a little spiciness rather than bitterness, as this beer is not bitter at all.

The body is light, which is a pretty good trick considering its sweetness, and the carbonation level is moderately high.

This is a nice summer thirst quencher without any trace of alcohol whatsoever. You have to like the smell and taste of toffee though to enjoy it.

The website says "Light Bodied American Ale" and I was surprised to see it not on Beer Advocate. I got a bottle of this at the beer store down the street from me as part of a Mendocino mix six pack. Not a great beer but also not my favorite style. Light in color, light in flavor, not a bad beer if you like summer style ales.