Beyond Blonde
Olds College Teaching Brewery

1L howler from Sherbrooke Liquor Store - this appears to have been brewed with some sort of Low Countries yeast, with an attendant uptick to the base ABV - 6%! Let's get all wild and crazy now!

This beer pours a mostly clear, medium golden amber colour, with two fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly ecru head, which leaves some splattered paint lace in places around the glass as it quickly bleeds off.

It smells of lightly toasted pale and wheat malt, hints of chewed-out bubblegum, lightly phenolic Belgian yeast, a further sugary berry fruitiness, ephemeral ground black pepper spice, and tame leafy, herbal, and floral hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, subtly smoked caramel notes, some mixed generic drupe and berry fruitiness, loitering Belgian yeast spice, and more understated earthy, herbal, and ethereally perfumed floral hoppiness.

The bubbles are pretty much integrated into nothingness after the opening effort, the body a solid middleweight, and generally smooth, the fruitiness going a long way in tamping down the otherwise spiteful yeast, at least in this regard. It finishes off-dry, more indistinct fruit and lingering mutt-ish malt the order of the day.

Well, if you're going to go 'beyond' yer typical North American blonde ale, you either need the sidestep effects of Belgian yeast, brash hops, or a kick in the alcohol pants. Here, they've gone with 2 out of the 3, leaving the hops to the very outer limits of the equation, and, as already cynically noted, upped the booze a whole point. The result is an interesting and easy to drink Old World blonde - with just a little extra warming, that I'm sure will kick in come the end of this serving vessel.