Calvinus Blonde
Brauerei Locher AG

One of the survivors from Locher's early line of beers named for famous Swiss people and events. (This one for Calvin, the 16th Century founder of southern European Protestantism.) I like Locher for many reasons, hence high Overall Hugs.

I drank this copy a bit warm, so it was less refreshing; but also flavors stood out better but more melded. Overall, this BBA would be helped by a more active yeast; harder to keep unless you are from the north and have that specific training.

Calvinus Blonde Looks bubbly, but it doesn't last. Smells are also slightly above my average, fruity but not distinct. Tastes are balanced and some nice spices come out, tho again they are not easy to identify. Medium-mouthed.

Calvinus was fine with a sandwich at lunch. I think it would be suitable for a narrower range of foods than is typical of this wide ranging style. But I would like to put Calvinus to the test again paired with a light dinner. A Sante' !

 

From a bottle. Hazy yellow color with fluffy white head. Bready and earthy smell with some citrus. Light feel. Malty and earthy with a bit of a dry finish.

On pour a lovely looking beer appears, golden yellow colour, with a big frothy creamy head, that looks good, but which dies a little, the colour changes too, gets a bit murky and cloudy by the end which doesn’t look great to be honest A nice aroma, faint but has a good beery smell, smells of citrus, bready malts and earthy hops. Taste was a little hard for me to describe , wasn’t strong, was malty and deep tasting. Bitter aftertaste, hoppy and earthy, with a long finish. Crisp and good in the mouth. Was drinkable for sure with light flavours, not bad, could be a session beer, but nothing to write home about either, and, dare I say it, a little boring, but drinkable all the same.

 

Pale, clear, blonde, with little to no foam. Strong malt taste, more like a lager. Strong carbonation. Mildly bitter, but hard to tell with carbonation. Honestly not very good, sort of like a glorified PBR, but then again I'm not a big fan of blonde ales.

 

 

 

 

poured from a 33cl bottle into a large wine glass.

Pours a clowdy yellow honey color with a small 1 finger head that dissapates to a small ring around the glass. The aroma is of lemon peel and bready malts. There is an astrigency to this as well that is off putting. the taste is below average for a blonde ale. this is definately not a pale ale as stated in the description. The flavors are thin but leave a bitter lemon astrigent flavor in your mouth similar to rank hoegarden. Mouthfeel is light and airy, dry finish. overall there are better options out there. not really sure if i would get this over a hoegarden actually.

330ml bottle poured in a chalice.

A: A bit cloudy yellow color. Forms a nice big bubbled head when poured. Retention is small but a small layer remains forever. Very few lacings are left

S: Smell is mild as the wit version. Bready malts, yeasts and earthy hops

T: Follows the nose. Malty and bready. Crispy taste followed by a citric and earthy hoppy bitterness. In overall, taste is quite dry followed by a mild bitterness

M: Very light body. Medium to low carbonation. Mild bitter aftertaste

O: Very drinkable beer. Pleasant too. Better than the wit, IMHO

A - Pours with a half-finger of pure white bubbly head with absolutely no retention or lacing; slightly hazy light marigold color

S - A bit earthy and bready; some mineral; light and faint bread; perhaps a touch of light fruit as well

T - The earth tones carry through to the taste; very, very mild hop presence; faint bit of citrus and a touch of apple

M - Lightish to medium body; very tight prickly carbonation to make things a little more interesting

D - I gotta say that even though this isn't the best tasting blonde I've had, it's definitely quaffable. Good sessioner

Overall, just interesting enough, and it is definitely a 'blonde' but the closest categorization that I could see was a Belgian Pale. At any rate, not a bad brew, but nothing special either.