Atomic No. 79
Three Magnets Brewing

these guys continue to be one of my new favorite breweries, and every time i go up to washington i seek out their stuff, so many cans, some bottles too, these guys are making a ton of beer and i seriously cant get enough right now! this is more than just a simple yellow drinker for the taproom, this is a beer drinkers blonde, with more yeast character than we ever seem to get in the style, almost rustic saison-esque, but without any funkiness, just a raw earthy thing to it, subtle as can be, this is still pale malt first, but the fermentation profile is what sets it apart for me, i just love this, its so drinkable and well engineered, a new high water mark for the style even! it apparently uses a brand new malt too, which is super exciting, earthy and straw-like in here, which maybe is where i am getting some of the old world character, but its more than just the basic, generic, pale barley and wheat, and really this is the future of beer. i dont know the malt obviously, this might be one of the first commercial beers to employ it, and we dont get much information on it from them, but its special to me, and i want it in a rustic saison next time! seems like the synergy with some even more obvious and expressive farmhouse yeast would be lights out. the grain and the yeast kind of merge uniquely as this warms, where one starts and the other ends is not easily determined. hay, minerals, plain bagel, raw wheat, and very subtle noble type hops all come up in here, its super clean and drier than a lot of blondes, which makes it super drinkable even though it has some body. its rare to not just be impressed by an american blonde but to actually fall in love with it, and thats whats happening here. insanely flavorful and nuanced and great, id love to know more about this malt, and id love to drink a whole lot more of this beer. rad packaging too. absolute love it! didnt expect much from this but bought it because i am high on three magnets. so glad i did!

Poured from 16oz can into a tulip. Canned 7/2/19.

Appearance: medium golden color with a moderate haze and a thin layer of fizzy eggshell foam atop, which doesn't leave much lace as it dissipates. Not too bad.

Smell: lightly sweet malt, which is nice, but it's accompanied by a very mildly phenolic character that I interpret as a flaw. Not bad, but could be cleaner.

Taste: there's a nice malty flavor here; subtle, but with some nice Belgian quality to it. There's more of that character from the aroma, though, that I identified as phenolic. It's almost reminiscent, though, of the aftertaste in a macro lager -- not super clear to me what's going on here. For the most part, though, I think the good outweighs the bad in this beer.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a decent carbonation and creaminess.

Overall: this beer doesn't impress me greatly, but it's also not objectively "bad". That said, I'm not super enthusiastic to have this beer again.