Circuit Breaker
North 5th Brewery

a collaboration brew with the brand new modest, who is open but doesnt quite have their own house brewed beers flowing yet, so they did some joint effort with a few locals which is cool, this one done up at north 5th from what i understand, a mildly hoppy blonde, simple beer, clean and pretty refined, basic on the grain side but not boring, and not crazy hoppy but leveled up just a bit there, to me a bit safe even with the hops, bit a nice springtime release that should please most palates. nice sunny golden color with excellent clarity and a wispy white head nearly an inch high from the tap, had this at the new modest spot, cool space. aroma is fresh and biscuity, just a little more malt character than a lot of blonde types come with, not in any way heavy, just a little more earthy and round, same in the taste, off dry and pale, but with some personality, its not just the hops that define this one, nothing out of the ordinary for the style in terms of malt, but i like where this starts, thats all. the hops have some grassy almost noble character in the nose, which turns up to light pine and dried citrus peel in the flavor, pretty mellow on the bitterness overall, fresh, light canned pineapple and orange as it sits a minute, not exotic but good, nicely dosed for this, not into even pale ale range in terms of intensity, but its more than just beer flavored beer, so well done, it fits the season well too. not something thats going to really generate too much excitement, but its clean beer with good technical detail and helps get their doors open with some solid liquid. i was impressed with pretty much all i had from north 5th while in town this time, even the less exciting beers are solid. curious to try some of the modest stuff they do at their place next time too!