Sun Smack'd
Great Basin Brewing Co.

unique beer here in this fruity lighter brew arena. its a blonde at its core, but it almost drinks and feels like a pale wheat, a little cloudy, fluffy, fuller for a simple blonde, and with some color too, but then its done up with real blood orange and vanilla, not overdone, juicy and summery, only a touch sweet, drinkable even with the body, authentic on the fruit and the vanilla which immediately puts it ahead of so many, but still not quite as refined overall as it could be, and it sags a little because of that. the fruit on this is delicious, zesty and piquant in the nose, sweeter and juicier in the flavor, climaxing on the swallow, ripe and real and pretty forward, but also good with the flavorful barley malt in here, even if its heavier than it needs to be in feel, there is an almost baked thing to this, uncommon in a blonde ale but it works to differentiate this. thankfully the vanilla is pretty subtle, also mostly on the finish, and i kind of taste it more with the grain than i do with the fruit, curious but a nice finishing trajectory to this overall. more carbonation would help because the flavors are so bright, that was the case with a couple if their beers in here, but i like this recipe, especially in a springtime context. just some faint citrus acidity to close and cleanse the palate. solid.