Summer school #2: Blondes, more fun?

Ding! Ding! Class is in sesh again. Next on the agenda is Blondes. This is a style that’ll fit right under the category “Pale Lagers”. The Naked Pint calls Blonde, “a vague and confusing category” with Belgian styles being higher in alcohol content and American styles “tend to relay attributes that we Americans often apply to blond people, like bubbly, bright, light and easy.”

I went with Mission Brewery Blonde:

Here are what my notes say:

Appearance: Nice clear golden color, crazy foamy head. The foaminess was nice because it was a lot easier to get down to business with:

Aroma: It smelled really fruity, almost ALMOST like smelling a juice. It was a tarter smell… some green fruit.

Body/Texture: it had a but of a dryness but then I had a different tongue coat-y feeling. I’d call it sort of a creamy feeling. Not a whole cream texture, more like a glass of 1%.

Aftertaste: Had a tanginess, and crisp. It ended with a sweetness, not a sugary sweet, but not bitter.

Overall: it was very refreshing, I definitely tasted fruitness-a taste that echoed the tart fruit aroma like a green grapes I thought it was also pretty balanced, a teense on the hop side. All in all, enjoyable.

So, I guess it kind of hit on all of the American views of this beer, it was bubbly, bright and light!

There was art there?!

Today I attended the North Park Festival of Art. A couple of friends and I went with the intent of getting out and about, trying something new, and trying some local fare. Well, we made it as far as the Craft Beer Block. Turns out going to the beer block first kind of hinders your drive to check out any of the arts. Whoops. The Craft Beer Block afforded us the opportunity to try 10 different local restaurants and sample 8 different craft beers. The two that really stood out to us were  Lagunitas’s Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale, an “Imperial Mild” and Julian Hard Cider. Two REALLY different brews, but both very enjoyable. The Lagunitas Ale wasn’t too bitter and had a nice aftertaste and was all around pretty smooth. The cider, just yum. Ciders are usually too sweet and kind of thick for me, but this cider was really crisp, light and nicely refreshing. Both come highly recommended.

We did run into an old friend whose band was playing and spent the rest of the afternoon with him and a local bar. There, I found out that Brewery Ommegang’s Hennepin goes really well with a carne asada burrito.

We’re also still working through Tasting Beer. Right now its covering how taste works. There’s more to it than just your tongue, you use your sense of smell, sight and there are psychological factors involved. Mui interesting.