Blue Eyed Blonde
Independent Brewing Co.

 

6 pack of cans purchased fresh from the brewery.

Maybe I'm revanchist, or maybe I'm just atavistic, but personally I'm tired of the monocultural aesthetics that have recently infested the craft beer world. I get that things are getting more corporate and therefore brewers are more likely to hire graphic design grads, but aren't there, like, competing schools of graphic design? Is every student taught the exact same thing?

Anyhow, the label here looks like it was drawn in someone's sister's middle school notebook, and I enjoy that.

The can clearly refers to this as a Belgian Blonde, and judging from the pour that is more appropriate (I'd say Belgian pale, frankly).

The pour is very hazy, medium fizzy, dark yellow with a nice white head that fades fairly quickly.

The aroma is grainy and yeasty and the yeast seems to be American. It's an intense aroma, not what I was expecting, and the first few sniffs were a tad offputting. I acclimated fairly quickly, though, and began to appreciate the blunt interplay between the fruity malt and chewy yeast.

Flavor is very much the same as the aroma: I'm not quite sure what they were going for, and coming in with my own expectations dampened things, but after a few sips I began to enjoy the beer on its own terms. Fruity malt, sweet but not too sweet, bready yeast, and then just a little bit of hop tang on the back ends. There's some mild esters suggesting extract, but those aren't unpleasant.