REVIEW 157: WHIZBANG HOPPY BLONDE

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  USA (Fort Collins, Colorado)

BREWERY:  New Belgium Brewing

STYLE:  Blonde Ale

ABV:  5.7%

PURCHASE:  Draft (60-oz. pitcher), $10.00

SERVING:  Said pitcher, poured into chilled pint glass. Roughly one-inch head in the pitcher. Normal pour from pitcher to glass yielded a short-lived head of about half an inch. A fast pour, however, got almost three full inches. Who let the dogs out?

APPEARANCE:  Pale golden in color, with a typical off-white head. Narrow bubbling visible. Very good, consistent lacing.

BOUQUET:  Comes off like a pale ale--which it is at the end of the day, I suppose. Balanced between malted barley and noble hops, with some citrus thrown in. 

PALATE:  Comes off like a pale ale--which it is at the end of the day, I suppose. But it's a little underwhelming. Malty early on, giving way to a prominent noble hops bitterness fairly quickly. Joined at the finish by a generic citrus factor. Aftertaste seems dominated by a lemony and grapefruity note. Average in terms of texture and "fillingness." Soft carbonation that takes a while to assert itself. What's there is agreeable--I say this about a lot of beers, I know--but it just seems to be missing something. 

MUSINGS AND METAPHORS:  So what's a "whizbang" anyway? Merriam-Webster defines it, first and foremost, as "one that is conspicuous for noise, speed, excellence, or startling effect."

Google defines it as "a resounding success." Apparently, it also refers to a "small-caliber, high-velocity shell" in wide use during the First World War.

Urban Dictionary adds yet another "street" definition:  A mixture of heroin and cocaine known for its "one-two punch" effect on the user.  Yet another was the urgent need to urinate.

It was this last definition that fit this beer best. I'm about to go for the third time since finishing the pitcher.

GRADE:  C+