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.

The Infamous Blue-Eyed Blueberry Blonde Ale Still Exists

I've always let it be known about my obsession with the Blue-Eyed Blueberry Blonde Ale I drank two years ago while on a trip to Buffalo. The place I had it was Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, a six floor bar and restaurant that brewed all of its beer in-house just outside of Buffalo's HSBC Arena. I honestly can't stop thinking and talking about it.

Pearl Street's Beer Profiles

A few weeks ago I wrote a decently long piece on my fascination with blueberry ales, with an emphasis on the aforementioned craft brew. While writing that, I looked on Pearl Street's website for a description and couldn't find any trace of the beer. I also referenced this supposed fact in my Beer Rankings update last week.

Since it's getting to that time of the year in which it usually comes out, I took one last look and was relieved to find it still in existence. It was just well hidden. It's also evident that the brew is part of a special release series the brewery has.

I've also taken a screen cap of the beer's profile, but it can be found if you click on "St. Pearlie Girl Persuasions." Once the button is clicked, the beer lists under the Persuasion series appears. I simply took the Persuasion label as a single beer. Oh how wrong I was.

The good news is that one of my all-time favorite beers still exists. The next step is finding out an easier way to get it instead of driving all of the way to Buffalo again. I'm definitely open for suggestions.

This was me for a bit there.

Make sure you're following the Beer Snob on Twitter!