Brewmaster Blonde
Common Crown Brewing Co.

 

Super light, super delicious. Summer beer from a place that could use more summer....

 

 

 

 

 

355ml can poured into tulip.

Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow with half a finger of white head that leaves melting snowdrift lace as it recedes.

Smells of crisp grain, muddled orchard fruit, mild zesty lemon and wet grass.

Tastes of grainy bread, apple skin, faint lemon juice and more grassy hops.

Feels light and perky. Light bodied with fizzy carbonation. Finishes off-dry.

Verdict: Recommended. A solid thirst quencher from a brand-new brewery.

 

 

1L howler from Sherbrooke Liquor Store - another new brewery releasing product while their production facility is under construction - I see no mention of any contract situation, so they must have made this stuff in an unused back corner, or something.

This beer pours a clear, medium golden amber colour, with three fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly creamy off-white head, which leaves some tiered sketchy cloud lace around the glass as it lazily recedes.

It smells of semi-sweet, grainy and slightly biscuity pale malt, a touch of sugary wheatiness, some bruised apple and pear fruitiness, and weak earthy, leafy, and grassy hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy pale malt, a sharper red apple fruity character, subtle white pepper spiciness, and more docile leafy, weedy, and almost floral green hoppiness.

The carbonation is fairly restrained, in the form of a laid-back frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and mostly smooth, just a wee, I'm gonna say spicy, astringency taking the sheen off of things here. It finishes off-dry, the lingering grainy and bready maltiness starting to seem like it's the only game in town.

Overall, a generally pleasant, and full-feeling blonde ale, with the focus obviously on the malt, to no one's detriment, honestly. Sure, more hop bitterness would have been nice, but this is still an easy-drinking patio quaffer, where mindfulness doesn't really play a part.