Beer Review: Rivertowne Babbling Blonde

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.3 percent

Appearance: This beer had a pretty chroma of straw gold once I poured it out. There was also an initial fogginess in the body that faded just a little as everything settled. After that, this had a strong, crisp appearance. There was an average amount of carbonation trickling upwards. This helped form the quarter inch white layer of foam.

Smell: Babbling Blonde gave way to a few interesting layers of aroma. It was slightly sweet as well as fruity with some orange and lemon. This also featured a few hints of grain and grassiness.

Taste: Oddly, this played quite dry up front. A touch of bread and yeast flavor played well with the fruit flavor. Still, I couldn't really place the fruit flavor as I had in the smell. It just didn't seem like lemon and/or orange. More like a handful of gummi candy. I found that just a little misleading. There was also a minimal hop bite on the back which I was pleased to notice.

Overall Rating: 

I go back and forth with this beer, but if I had to compare it with something it'd be shortbread. Sweet, yet still has that bread/cookie/cake flavor. Hints of fruit. Overall, I love the color of this beer. Has some thickness to the body. The fruit flavors still wander in and out which has me confused at times in which I'm drinking this.

Beer Review: Victory Summer Love

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 5.2 percent

Appearance: This one  had a body that was bright, blonde and golden. I bet that if I hadn't told you that this was a blonde ale you would never guess it, right? Nevermind that. Anyways, there was a ton of carbonation in this. Especially in what appeared to be a thick column of bubbles in the middle portions of my glass. There was a thin layer of white foam atop the brew as well. This offered some above average retention. It wanted to hang around for a good while. In turn, this left some average lacing as well.

Smell: Holy hops. Some potent hop aromas jolted my sinus cavity. They were extremely piney and citrusy. A tiny bit of sweeter malt was able to peak through. How that was I'm not entirely sure.

Taste: Unfortunately I wasn't able to notice much of anything until the hops bit me on the back of the tongue. Still, the hop bite was an interesting and tasty one. The other aspects of the flavor seemed really lackluster and light. Aside from all of that, the aftertaste of this was quite crisp and refreshing. The texture created by the carbonation came through on the entirety of each sip. This brew still had enough juice to remind me that this was summer.

Overall Rating: 

I've heard a lot of great things about this beer. Thus, this is just another example of going into a beer with very high expectations and not getting exactly what you thought it would be. I have a feeling that those of you that enjoy this beer likely enjoy a stronger hop presence than I do. I need a little more cracker taste or sweetness to compliment the hops in this one.

Beer Review: Indigo Imp Blonde Bombshell

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 6.2 percent

Appearance: This one came off as a deep, strong gold color with even stronger copper highlights elsewhere in the body that also bared a slight haze. Hold this one under some light to notice that it looks even more attractive. It featured an immense ivory-colored head that was both thick and explosive. I had to wait quite a while for it to die down a bit. Unfortunately this didn't translate into the lacing which stuck weakly to the inside of my glass. There were a lot of carbonation bubbles racing towards the upper portions of the beer.

Smell: This beer was oddly fruity and sweet. It wasn't turning me away. It was just unexpected on my part. There were also a few floral ho notes entering my nose as was a little bit of sweet malt. Intriguing smell.

Taste: It was tart, but still sweet on the front of my tongue. It was at this point that I also picked up a large character of yeast in this beer. It was a little too noticeable for my tastes. Very strong and pungent. The fruit being sweet mixed with the yeast flavor in this turned me off just a bit. The hop notes are once again very floral, but add some positive zest and zing to the flavor of this beer.

Overall Rating: 

This was definitely a different one. The head was explosive at first, but for whatever reason it didn't produce much lacing if any at all. The sweetness of the fruit content of the beer mixed with the yeast presence was interesting and tasty at first, but became like candy that's way too sweet. After a while it became just a little overbearing for me. Still, a creative and tasteful beer.