Prairie Baard Golden Ale
Bomber Brewing

Prairie Baard ("beard" in Dutch) has nice packaging that includes a really clever label, a hop cone that mimics brand spokesman's Graham DeLaet's trademark bushy beard (and even has the wheat sheaf hanging out the mouth as a nod to the pro golfer's rural Saskatchewan heritage). A clear, deep golden liquid, it looks real nice in the glass too.

While not the kind of beer that'll turn your nose green, this still has an appreciable amount of hoppiness in the aroma. Lightly pungent and pleasantly floral, it actually has a hint of fresh grass that's especially appropriate given there's a golfer behind it. The hops don't crowd out the malt by any means but they certainly make themselves known.

That said, this is not a golden ale out to prove something; the palate is clean and crisp in the most conventional sense of those words. Hops do snip the finish short with a dry, brief bitterness but the taste borrows from an old German mantra: sound and sweet - nothing but pure barley and wheat. The flavour is simple and familiar but really good.

No doubt there's calculated marketing behind this beer. Make no mistake, however, it's made with skill and quality ingredients. Hoppy and high-alcohol beers may taste more impressive but they're typically a lot easier to brew than beers like this that afford nowhere to hide flaws and hang their hats on being clean, concentrated and consistent.

"Blue-Collar Craft" is not only a fantastic slogan but also a movement I can get behind. As much I love Barleywines and bourbon-barrel aged Imperial Stouts, I'm far more often in the mood for something exactly like Prairie Baard. Besides, there's really only two factors that define good beer: good ingredients and a good brewer. This has both.

 

355ml can poured into tulip 17/6/16

A clear bright golden yellow, plenty of tiny bubbles everywhere feeding a two finger foam that lasts for half the beer leaving a couple partial rings

S floral and citric hops, apple and lemon, some sweet grains linger in the background, a little spruce and hard toffee, like a hopped up session ale and I rather like it

T more grains, cracker and lemon, just a little toned down compared to the nose

M lighter bodied, pin prick bubbles fluff it up, mild bitter bite and a little grit, grainy citrus finish

O not a bad little session ale, hopped up but grainy, refreshing and easy to drink

Enough going on to keep you from getting board and you could drink several under a hot sun, I could see myself drinking this again for sure

355ml can - this was apparently developed and produced by Bomber Brewing for Canadian pro golfer Graham DeLaet, or so implies the label, because there is absolutely no other information on this offering anywhere on the Internets. Oh, and the name - I suppose it is a combination of Mr. DeLaet's predilection for robust facial hair, and his Saskatchewan Dutch heritage.

This beer pours a clear, bright pale golden yellow colour, with three fat fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly bone-white head, which leaves some nicely tiered grandstand lace around the doglegged glass as it slowly and evenly subsides.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy and crackery pale malt, mild wheaty notes, a bit of musty yeast, and tame leafy, vegetal, and dried hay-like hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, wet white toast, a hint of underripe apple and pear fruitiness, subtle earthy yeast, and more gentle herbal, floral, and wet grassy hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite light on its fancy and frothy feet, the body a decent medium weight, and mostly smooth, nothing really hanging about here, looking to cause trouble, as such. It finishes off-dry, the softly toasted pale and wheat malt lingering amongst some muddled earthy hops.

Overall, a generally pleasant and inoffensive version of the style, a simple workin' man's brew (and pro athletes, for that matter). It could just be in my head, or due in part to the limited marketing vector here, but Prairie Baard does certainly evoke a feeling of waves of grain below a big ol' blue sky, I gotta say.