Trashy Blonde
Iron Goat Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

22oz bottle, one of the local-ish breweries I've vowed to get better acquainted with while I'm spending some quality time in the Idaho Panhandle.

This beer pours a mildly hazy, pale golden yellow colour, with three healthy fingers of puffy, broadly foamy, and faintly bubbly off-white head, which leaves some decent defrosting windshield lace around the glass as things lazily sink away.

It smells of musty orange peel, earthy, kind of ethereal honey, gritty and grainy pale malt, a soft yeastiness, worrisome hints of nail polish remover, and faint leafy, weedy hops. The taste is more underwhelming honey - more tacky than sweet - bready, slightly doughy pale malt, muddled citrus rind bitters, a steady phenolic yeastiness (perhaps the source of the acetone unpleasantness in the aroma), and very tame weedy, leafy, and somewhat grassy hops.

The bubbles are pretty tame in their hard to really get worked-up about frothy countenance, the body a so-so medium weight, and mostly smooth, only that increasingly sickly yeast casting a minor shadow here. It finishes trending dry, the graininess of the malt apparently spent like last week's paycheck, along with the wan guest ingredients.

Not a particularly egregious version of this deservedly derided style, as the orange and honey don't do much for the experience either way. It's the yeast, dummy, that causes friction with my palate, but not overly so, which is a good thing, I guess. Anyways, overall, a summery offering with a name that should move some units.

Thanks to Woemad for this above average example of the style!

 

32oz “grunt” purchased at Growler Guys in Spokane for approximately $6.

Poured a fairly clear golden amber color, with an off-white, sudsy head. Said head dropped to a bubbly skiff after a couple of minutes.

Mild, bready malts and some floral hops. The hop aroma is pretty tame, but it’s there, unlike many blondes I’ve, er, had.

Mild grassy hops meet with equally mind malts, with a finish that has just a tiny bit of hoppy bitterness. It’s not a flavor bomb by any means, but it has enough hop character to stand out favorably amidst the many bland blondes out there.

Light bodied, with a slightly watery moutnfeel. About par for the style.

A nice, no-frills ale that goes well with warm weather but still has a little bit of hop character. In a near-record stretch of consecutive 90+ degree days, it hit the spot.