Beer Review: Branchline Shady Oak Blonde

Serving Type: Bottle

ABV: 4.5 percent

Appearance: This blonde was indeed a "blonde" color. It was somewhat closer to a olden color, but with some orange hues mixed in some portions of the body. This brew was packed full of carbonation. The bubbles traveling upwards through the golden body. As the brew was able to warm, these bubble congregations turned into those beady lines I sometime see in Belgian beers. The foam was an explosive rush towards he crown of the glass as soon as I poured it. As fast as it foamed up it still receded nicely and in a timely fashion. For a second I thought this was a beer on nitro. What was left was some cake-like (as I always like to refer to it) lacing inside the glass. This lacing was quite thick and sticky. Almost perfect.

Smell: The aroma was almost dominated by this floral hoppiness. The brew was also a little sweet as well as a bit fruity and estery.

Taste: Overall, this had a thick feel to it. I got sweet malt on the front as well as some of the wildflower honey that was used in the brewing process.. The honey and the fruity esters that followed played very well off of each other. Some yeast character bounced in and out as well at that point. The finish was punctuated with that signature floral hop bitterness. The honey lingered for a good while in the aftertaste, which was an amazing yet tasty attribute.

Overall Rating: 

This was a fabulous drink. I can't wait until I have the chance to try this again in the future. The honey was the key ingredient here, at least for me it was. It played well with the other aspects of the beer and it even lingered in the aftertaste. The carbonation was at an unreal level. Not outrageous, but perfect enough to enhance the beer drinking experience for me. It added that much more texture and crispness.

Brigade of Brew

"Fix bayonets, my brave Texans! Forward and take those heights!"

Words proclaimed by Confederate General John Bell Hood on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg while galloping past the ranks of the famous Texas Brigade before the entire division stepped-off. Bell originally hailed from Kentucky, but as a big Gettysburg nerd I still found this pre-battle quote to his former brigade fitting for what I'm about to write about.

I recently came across a small stash of beer from the Lone Star State. There is someone that'll read this at some point that's deserving of some thanks. So, first and foremost thank you for for making it easier for me to get a hold of some awesome beer! You know who you are. I ended up with four different beers. One of them was the famous St. Arnold Pumpkinator which I'm saving for the Thanksgiving holiday. The other three I've been able to try and they were excellent!

Guadalupe Brewing Co.'s Texas Honey Ale

This was easily my favorite of the batch. I've never really had anything from the Braggot style until I had this one. If you've ever had honey on toast for breakfast this is pretty much that in liquid form. It featured a very textured dark bread backbone. The bread flavor seemed very dry (i.e. toast), which definitely amplified the other flavors of the brew

The honey just went from there and complimented everything else. It didn't dominate the rest of the beer with sweetness. There was just a slight kiss of t in each sip. I was very happy to have come into contact with this. I'm getting hungry and thirsty just thinking about it

Branchline Brewing Co.'s Shady Oak Blonde

This one led me to believe that the general theme of this stash of brews was one ingredient - honey. Honey is certainly one of my favorite flavors to come across or add to a beer. I have quite a few homebrew recipes stuffed somewhere here that have a generous helping of clover honey on the bill.

This brew featured Wildflower honey, according to the Branchline website. This had a much lighter color and a ton more carbonation. Lots of foamy head. The main difference was the honey was paired with some fruity esters and a lot of yeast flavor. Everything worked out just fine.

Real Ale Brewing's Devil's Backbone

This was the one of the three that had some amplification in both the hops and alcohol department. This is a Belgian Tripel named for a ridge just outside of Blanco, Texas. This was very spicy and fruity, but still had the touch of sweetness to help balance things out in the end.

Real Ale's website says a nice helping of Czech Sazz hops was used as well as some candied sugar. It plays like honey like the overall theme was, but packed a little more punch. All three of these were excellent. I'll try to go a bit more in depth when I get a chance to review these. Hopefully I get two of them in sometime next week!