Girlfriend Golden
River City Brewing Company

very basic blonde ale here, nothing remarkable, but a light one to pair with spicy mexican food and doesnt really need to be anything more than it is, although from a technical standpoint its not amazing, and it bums me out that there seems to be so much quality variance from these guys, like some of the beers are downright fantastic, others seem lazy or even amateur, and this one leans toward the latter camp, not bad, but i know them to be capable of much more, and in a beer so simple like this, the lack of attention to detail here is a little troubling. a pale honey colored brew with a moderate white foam on top and a nice shine to it. it settles back to flat relatively quickly and looks a tad still in the glass. it smells earthy, straw-like, sort of agricultural to me, just a little more intrigue to the grain profile than is common in the style, and its there in the flavor too, this is far and away the best feature of this. the yeast smells a little soapy to me, not chemical or estery or anything, but a little stressed and off, and the ferment is definitely not quite complete, as there is some generic grain sugar running through most of this. the hops are light in the nose, soft citrus, and slightly bitter late for balance in the flavor, but they play a really minor part, as they should in the style most of the time, no issues there. there just isnt a whole lot of flavor here, so the weirdness in the fermentation stands out and makes this seem a little rushed and cheap, especially with the residual sugar. not bad, but definitely not their best. in a late night food context its a little better, but not a great showcase of what these guys can do...