Blonde Inferno
Crooked Label Brewing Company

Poured from a growler into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a lightly hazy, medium golden amber with a quarter finger white head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of pale malt, lemon citrus and a distinct habenero pepper heat. Flavor is pale malt, honey, lemon and faint light stone fruit and a distinct, but not overly sharp habenero burn developing into the finish, where it lingers for a while. Medium bodied with light to medium creaminess. I was excited to see a braggot listed on the drink board and enjoyed the taster of it, but then learned more about the brew, which is actually a in house blonde ale blended with a habenero pepper mead from a nearby mead brewery. The honey depth is not as deep as any of the few European braggots I've tried, but it does have a very nice honey note. The base blond ale melds nicely with the mead. Honey flavor, but not overly sweet, as is typical of meads. The habenero is a great addition. I think my taster was a bit more aggressive with the mead (and therefor a bit hotter) than my final growler, but that was fine because the head level was great extended drinking; nice shot of heat and some lingering, but at a pleasant level. A quite different hybrid ale that works well. Blonde ales are not one of my go-to styles, but this was good. Glad I found it.