Northernbrewer.com, a home brew supplier, is advertising an "Irish Blonde" ale on their site. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/irish-blonde-extract-kit-1.html They describe it as, "Rather like a foreign stout without any roasted barley; or an overhopped albino Irish red. This creamy-textured, straw-gold ale offers up suggestions of buttered toast, warm cereal, and a trace of fruity, herbal hops." This sounds like a really interesting beer to me. I am curious if any commercial brewers do anything similar? Even if they don't bill it as an "Irish Blonde," are there any brews on my shelves like this? Thanks in advance!
Sounds like a made-up thing. For something similar to the description try a pale bitter like Coniston Bluebird, or even the Fuller's Bengal Lancer- both quality beers.
As TongoRad said it sounds like a gimmick. If you are hell bent on pursuing this then I recommend O'Hara's Irish Pale Ale by Carlow brewing: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/646/56941 And well Irish Pale Ale is fictitious. This beer is in fact an APA. But the malt flavour profile has slight hints of their stout. It is a good beer however and may be what you are seeking taste wise. Definitely recommend their Stouts and Irish Red. Can I interest you in trying an Israeli IPA ... which by coincidence tastes just like an American IPA?
Since they are both Minnesota companies, I wonder if this is what they were going for: Finnegans Blonde
I don't doubt that this is a "made up" style (although one could seemingly argue that many styles are just as made up, but I am not opening that can of worms). I am just curious if there are brewers that have tried to make this made up style before. Sometimes gimmicks taste good, ha ha.
I found one! http://finnegans.org/the-beer/# I found two! http://dungarvanbrewingcompany.com/our-beers/helvick-gold-blonde-ale/
84% 2-row 8% flaked barley 8% oat malt 2 small additions of palisade Irish ale yeast OG 1.059 Sounds like a simple pale ale to me with a different yeast variation. For the record, Northern Brewer have something along the lines of an idiot writing their kit descriptions. Over-the-top generalizations, complete fabrications (such as this one), and repetition of every known myth and stereotype in the beer world. That first sentence is typical tripe. I generally tend to ignore their descriptions and just head straight for the ingredients and stats.
