Blonde
Glacier Brewhouse

a basic beer, but a good rinse for spicy asian food, i enjoyed this as a palate refresher and as something easy after a mess of more ambitious beers, a nice reset, easy drinking, relatively clean, bubbly and sort of rejuvenating. golden colored, just a half shade richer than yellow, frothy almost inch of head on it, great carbonation, some hop aroma immediately evident, but nobody would describe this as robust. simple in a good way, nice and fresh, minerals are there underneath the pale base malt, and i get light pine and woodsy character from the hops, balanced. the flavor is similar, hops dont come on til late, the ferment is clean and invisible, this lands on the dry side, and the water chemistry is good. it is slightly more substantial on the palate than many blonde types, but its not in any way heavy either, it just seems to take a little more body and minerality from the barley than others, i dig it, especially for colder weather, but its plenty drinkable still. the hops bring light citrus and spruce to the swallow, and this is clean and gone fast. refreshing drink, especially with spicy or greasy food, and of high quality overall. just a bit more to this, ever so slightly hearty, very fresh.

 

 

I had this beer on-tap in a pint glass at the brewery.

Appearance: medium golden hue with a clear body and a thin layer of white foam and a moderate effervescence. Quite good for the style, though more head would be nice.

Smell: malty with kind of a rich and beery aroma; it's not as insipid as the style has a tendency to be.

Taste: nicely malty without too much sweetness and with a nicely balanced noble hop character. I really like this execution of the style.

Mouthfeel: light body with a decent carbonation and creaminess.

Overall: this is a good example of the style. It's not too cloying and it has some actual hip character; it is quite nicely drinkable.

On tap at Hangar on the wharf. This was poured into a pint glass. The appearance was a hazy golden blonde/yellow color with a one finger white foamy head (nice, for a bar pour). There was some light lacing sliding into the beer. The smell had a sweet malt base to it with a slight spicy hops in the background. The taste was mainly sweet but had a light spice to it. The aftertaste was semi sweet that bled into a dry sweet finish. On the palate, this one sat about a light on the body with a pretty good sessionability about it. The carbonation was mainly subdued. Overall, good blonde ale worthy of having again.

Decent crushable blonde.