950. Perennial Artisan Ales – Southside Blonde Ale

Posted By kkozlen on Jun 1, 2020 | 0 comments

It’s week 12 of the Coronavirus quarantine and I’ve finished renovating my kids’ bathroom and have moved onto working on our deck. What started as a project to replace a couple of boards has turned into completely rebuilding our deck. The news the last few days has been filled with protests, looting and rioting across the U.S. Tonight, many people are on edge as we’ve gotten word that the riots and looting might spill into residential neighborhoods here. So, as we turn on all of our lights, lock the doors, and prepare, it’s time to grab a beer to ease some of the tensions. Because I’ve been working outside most of the evening on the deck, I wanted something light and drinkable. Fortunately, this one was in the beer fridge, as my sister brought it from St. Louis a few months ago. 

Location: Poured from the 16oz can into a weizen style glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 5% ABV, ~170 Calories

Ingredients: Grist: 2-row, Pilsner malt, flaked wheat. Hops: Liberty, Mount Hood, Crystal.

Appearance & Aroma: It’s pale golden in color with some light orange hues. It’s also cloudy and has a fairly thin, creamy white head which fell to a very thin layer over the top after a few minutes. The aroma is bready with some bright, light citrusy notes.

Taste & Feel: The body is light medium and the mouthfeel is lightly crisp. Up front it has a lightly sweet maltiness with hints of citrus, but in the middle, the maltiness grows and the hint of citrus turns slightly bitter. The finish is a nice balanced mix of light, sweet maltiness and a light citrusy and spicy bitterness. Both the malty sweetness and light bitterness last briefly in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This is a nice light beer, and I’d go with something big and savory like a burger that would complement the lightly sweet maltiness. Even pairing this with something light, like a fish dish, the food flavors will dominate, so you might as well use this to quench your thirst with a big burger.

Overall Impression: I thought this was a good, very drinkable, lighter beer, but for a lighter beer, it also had a good amount of flavor. I’d say that it was dead on for the American Blonde beer style and tastes like it was made with solid ingredients. I thought this was a good quality, good beer that I’d gladly go for again on a hot summer day.

My Rating: