REVIEW 14: BORO BLONDE ALE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA

BREWERY:  Crooked Eye Brewery

STYLE:  Blonde Ale

ABV:  5.6%

PURCHASE:  60-oz. pitcher, $10.00

SERVING:  Said pitcher, poured into chilled pint glass. A solid inch and a half of head from the tap into the pitcher, but less than half that on the first pour from the pitcher into the glass. Quicker pours (less than ten seconds) on the second and third pints yielded close to two inches. 

APPEARANCE:  Dark caramel-butterscotch color, despite it's being a blonde ale. Think caramel filling of a Rolo. Except this was transparent. The beer did take on a blonder tint when dispensed into the glass. Slightly off-white, bright, fluffy head that left decent lacing around both the pitcher and the glass.

BOUQUET:  The look was prophetic: Caramel hits the nose first, followed by a strong malt presence. Rounding things out are pleasant, subdued notes of citrus (orange and lemon), and possible wisps of pitted fruit such as peach or apricot. Hops sneak in there with a strain.

PALATE:  The hop-malt factor seems flip-flopped when assessing the taste: Now the malt notes recede while the hops assert themselves--though not as in an IPA, or even an APA, for that matter. But they represent a "through-line" of sorts, as they crescendo briefly before backing down yet remaining on the scene, syncing well with the notable citrus presence in the finish. The aftertaste sees this tandem continue with nice sustain, with the hops assuming a more bitter form. Light-medium overall body with, more or less, a normal degree of carbonation. Easy drinkability, almost like a light beer. However, also like a light beer, lacks a "wow" factor.

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  From Hatboro, Pennsylvania, near the stomping grounds of your humble narrator, comes the Crooked Eye Brewery and their Boro Blonde Ale. And wouldn't you know it, my little droogs, the upstart entry in the local market has promise. Smooth and relatively simple, this seems the type of beer well-suited as a first foray into the world of craft beer for those too timid to shy away from the standard, mass-produced lagers from the Big Three. I don't find the Boro Blonde quite on a par with Leffe and other more well-known entries in this category--particularly those from Belgium. But it's a start. Perhaps a decade's worth of recipe fine-tuning can push this into the top tier. 




GRADE:  B-