Strawberry Blonde
Warfield Distillery & Brewery

nice beer here, evolved for a basic blonde ale even before the fruit, but i liked it because the strawberry doesnt dominate, its not sugary at all, and the base beer has plenty of character on the grain side and in terms of hops, just a bit more to this one without sacrificing the obviously targeted high drinkability, so a smart beer and a well executed one, ideal for this time of year. this doesnt take much color from the fruit but does have a slightly deeper color than the typical blonde ale, owing to a heartier malt build than is common, neither heavy nor sweet to drink, a bit bready, toasted, and earthy, all of which favor and balance the strawberry component rather effectively. the fruit is cool, jammy and concentrated to me in the nose, but real, and not sugary just reduced and intensified, yet also really rightly dosed for this, the grain still easily comes through, and i get some lightly fruity hops in the aroma as well which compliment the strawberry nose and also add some freshness, subtle citrus here too. the fruit hits first and last with some layering in between, a lightly nutty and even european aspect to the grain elevates the base beer significantly, the hops have some light bitterness at the end to help keep this balanced, but the fruit isnt sugary, its married in really well here. good carbonation, some body, but a fun and easy summer drinker that i will look forward to having more of. very nice approach to this, usually dont expect to much from a fruited blonde ale, but this kicks it up a couple notches, love the back end hops adding a tropical note and some snap. very well made.