Irish Blonde
Thunder Canyon Brewery

 

Clear with a deep gold color. It's a bit darker than I expected for the style, almost copper hued. Moderate carbonation. Faint bready aroma, clean, not much else.

Dry, bready malt with a hint of fruit character, lemon perhaps, finishing with mild bitterness. Not a superb finish though, has a bit of astringence that lingers undesirably. The mouthfeel is nice: smooth, crisp, light body but appropriate.

Overall the beer is reasonably drinkable. Since hardly anyone around here brews Pilsners I'll take a Blonde Ale in exchange. This is the hot Sonoran Desert and we need some lighter, more refreshing craft beers. If not for the finish I would rate it higher. Even so it is one of the better beers they serve which means there's room for improvement all around. Worth a try.

Sampled on tap at Thunder Canyon, February 2011
The beer arrives with a fizzy, pale colored head that sits on top of a clear, Blonde colored beer. The aroma smells a bit green and beery at first, but then starts to pick up a crisp malt note, some herbal hop character and a sweet, almost corn-like grain note. After some time a big cracker like grain and pale biscuit maltiness starts to come out. There is a hint of buttery diacetyl noticeable in the nose too, which seems to be part of the greenness of the aroma.

The flavors tastes lightly buttery (maybe it is more of a subtle butterscotch flavor though), grassy grain, and some grain sweetness that evokes thoughts of corn. A fruit note influences the flavor without being particularly distinct enough to recognize a specific variety of fruit. A clean, though subtle bitterness gives a touch of a bite starting in the middle through to the finish of a sip. Much of the overall bite of this beer is contributed by a carbonic fizz. The beer has some body to it (light-medium); it is quaffable and textured enough to not seem thin.

I have no idea what an Irish Blonde actually is, but this tastes like a reasonable example. It is perhaps a touch green still (diacetyl), but this is subtle and I would expect that this will clean up shortly as it bulk ages in the serving tank.