I've been in the enviable position of having a postponed St. Andrew's Day day off today. What is less than enviable is the fuzzy head I've had all day, a result of a few whiskies and a night on the couch last night. But, like the brave little soldier that I am, I will put my weaker feelings to one side and venture back into the fray.
Come with me as I go over the top and into day 2 of my solo adventure through Beer52's advent calendar.
Mash
Style - Blond
Brewer - Oedipus/Patronaat Haarlem
Hops -
ABV - 5%
The beer
As seems to be the way with a lot of the beers I get from Beer52 (yep, I have a subscription, so what?) I am not at all familiar with the brewers. Oedipus I have discovered, after a quick go on google, are a neat looking outfit from Amsterdam. I do genuinely enjoy getting my Beer52 box every month and being introduced to brewers I wouldn't have stumbled on on my own. Today's offering is one of the good surprises these advent calendars can throw your way.
I am not normally a drinker of many blonds, I get a sort of vomit taste from a lot of them, but this one is a real treat. It pours lovely, the colour is great, a really pale yellow of fresh cut hay, if you like. I would like to see a bit more head retention, but that's just me and maybe that's not appropriate for a blond anyway (resisting the urge to make a joke about blonds and head, if your mind went there, shame on you).
On the nose this is classic blond beer. There's rich, bready yeastiness and a touch of lactic sourness, which are all good things.
Flavour-wise I can't say much. Its a blond. I'm not getting smacked about the head by tingly hops or malt notes. But, there is pleasure to be had in this beer's subtlety. There are light hints of green apples and the levels of sourness on this are just right. It's not a tangfastic level of sourness, but just enough to make you go back for that follow up sip a little quicker than if it weren't there. The big bonus as far as I am concerned is that that taste of vomit I usually associate with blonds isn't there at all.
If I were to have one criticism, which is not about the beer at all, it would be that this is a much better summer drinker than something that should really be in an advent calendar. A cold glass of this on a hot day by the sea and I would be in heaven. A fairly dreary day in December on the other hand...
Score - 4/5
Blond beers?
Taste like vomit!
On it like a car bonnet!
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